POLITICS
PDP Tackles Kwara Goverment on N35 billion Bond
From Alfred Babs, Ilorin
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is the main opposition party in Kwara state has disagreed with the state government on the need to seek for N35 billion bond from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
While government said that it would need the bond to fill infrastructure gap in the state and complete some abandoned projects inherited from former administrations, the PDP asked the state governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to drop the move of taking the bond describing it as ‘reckless’ adding that the people of the state were not in it support.
Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye said that the bond would be utilized to complete the renovation hub which is an ongoing project embarked upon by the administration as well as fixing Infrastructural facilities in Owu falls, a tourist center, building Gbugbu International Market and developing Agro potentials of the state.
He said, “Everyone complains that Kwara remains hugely dependent on handouts from the centre.
The bond will fund some ongoing projects to completion, and do many more. These projects include the abandoned Kwara State University Campuses at Osi and Ilesha Baruba, Ilesha Gwanara Road; and a few others. These are projects inherited from the past administration.
“Kwara is essentially an agrarian state. Atop the blessing of rich arable lands is its rich tourism potentials. Kwara is home to the Owu Fall, the highest waterfall in West Africa. But it is inaccessible to date. The bond will part-fund the road leading to this treasure. Job-creating projects like garment factory, innovation hub, visual arts centre, film factory, and agroprocessing firms, spread across the state, will also be funded. The government will also construct a flyover to decongest the intractable traffic along the densely populated Tanke axis in Ilorin, along with other roads that would boost economic activities. The Gbugbu international market in Kwara North will receive a fair chunk of the bond to attain its potentials as a melting pot for continental trade.”
Ajakaye continued, “The Kwara bond followed every legal step there is, such as cabinet and legislative approvals. For emphasis, ‘public hearing’ is not a legal requirement in bond issuance. The Debt Management Office (DMO) has not only certified the state as financially healthy to take N35bn or more, it has also green-lighted the procedures so far taken by the government.”
However, PDP in a statement signed by it Publicity Secretary, Tunde Ashaolu asked the governor to immediately drop the idea of the N35b bond, stressing that such ‘reckless move’ would weaken and plunge the State into an uncontrollable debt profile.
The party said, “the public outcry that has greeted the government’s planned borrowing had shown that majority of Kwarans were not in support of the government’s plan, saying this was a reflection that the proposed credit facility was not in the interest of the State.
“Though we are not against borrowing to fund infrastructure, the State government has however not demonstrated any sincerity, transparency and accountability on the issue as the whole process has been shrouded in secrecy. More worrisome is that the government is driving the process through an unregistered company and unknown individuals”, it said.
According to the party, the manner at which the loan was conceived by the Governor and how his request was hurriedly granted by the State House of Assembly without any form of scrutiny breeds suspicion and suggests there is a sinister motive behind it.
The PDP further alleged that the State government failed to carry Kwarans along on such sensitive and critical matter as it never demanded their input on the desirability of the loan.
“The argument by the government that there is no law or regulation that calls for a public hearing on proposed borrowings, shows that the government is not committed to transparency and probity it has always mouthed.
“The government has also refused to avail members of the public full details of the loan including its utilization plan. As it stands, Kwarans do not know the exact projects to be funded by the loan, where they will be cited and their impacts to the State.
“Moreover, two years into his administration, the economy of Kwara has become weak and fragile and there is no way taking such huge loans will not hamper the state’s capacity to meet future obligations. Governor Abdulrazaq should not subject Kwarans and future generations of the State to undue debt burden.
“Governor Abdulrazaq has failed to account for how he has spent the over N100billion FAAC allocations and other cash inflows to the State since he assumed office. The huge cash inflows to the State under this present administration have not translated into better living conditions for Kwarans. There is therefore no public confidence in this government to ensure judicious use of the N35b bond it wants to access.
“The claim by the Governor’s spokesperson, Rafiu Ajakaye that ‘the government has cut waste and cannot in good conscience be accused of profligacy’ is ridiculous and laughable. How could such a claim come from a government that allocated over N300m for the renovation of a single school and over N80m for the renovation of Banquet Hall?”
The party also lambasted the State House of Assembly for not ensuring due diligence before hurriedly approving Governor Abdulrazaq’s humongous loan request, saying the Speaker, Yakubu Danladi has turned the House to the governor’s rubber stamp.
“We expected that the Assembly would look beyond partisan politics and consider the future of this State before approving such a loan request from the governor. Acting as a rubber stamp to the governor cannot and is not in the interest of Kwara and its people,” it added.
The PDP denied that the immediate past administration of Abdulfatah Ahmed did not take N20billion bond while the N17 billion bond taken by the administration of former governor Bukola Saraki was deployed to the establishment of Kwara state University (KWASU), Malete.
On the N17billion bond accessed by the administration of Governor Abubakar Bukola Saraki, the PDP said Kwarans are aware of all the projects that were financed through the facility and their positive impacts on the State.
“The bond funded the establishment of Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, the International Aviation College, Ilorin, the Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre, the remodelling of the Ilorin Township Stadium, Upgrading of Asa Dam Waterworks and phase one of Ilorin Water reticulation Projects, Urban and Rural Electrification, Rural and Feeder Road Projects, Ilorin Metropolitan Square , the Kwara Mall Project, among others.
“With KWASU, the administration of Dr Saraki expanded access to tertiary education for Kwarans and non Kwarans as well, and opened up Malete and neighbouring communities for development. The Harmony Diagnostic Centre boosted healthcare for Kwarans. People from outside the State also come here to access services offered by the Centre, generating more revenue for the State.
“Additionally, the projects financed through the bond created thousands of local jobs for Kwarans and also significantly contributed to the development and economy of the State.“
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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