Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has sought the approval of the Delta State House of Assembly to borrow the sum of N25 billion which will be invested in Palm Plantation.
Coming on the heels of a controversial N150 billion bridging finance facility from Zenith Bank which was approved by the lawmakers in April, the N25 billion loan will be sourced from First Continental Monument Bank (FCMB).
Okowa, who is leaving office next year, however, disclosed in Asaba on Tuesday that the state government was yet to access the N150 billion bridging finance.
The governor who spoke with journalists shortly after inspecting ongoing works at the Koka flyover bridge and interchange in the Delta State capital said that the funds had not reached the State because the Federal Government was yet to commence remittances to the state, contrary to the agreement.
He said that the bridge was one of the projects that the bridging finance was meant to cover, adding that when the money is available, the state will be able to use it to upscale these projects.
He said: “The bridging finance is actually a finance that we already have a source of repayment and rather than allow the depreciation of the Naira or the extension of time at work create a cost escalation for us, our intention was to take a bridging finance and then pay back from the monies that the Federal Government owes us.
“But as at today, we have not even accessed the bridging finance because the repayment plan from the Federal Government, which is supposed to have started by January has not commenced; they have not made any remittances to the state.”
He justified the earlier loan facility from Zenith Bank, noting that other states have taken a part of their own bridging finance.
Okowa added that his administration intends to wait until the refund process starts before accessing the bridging finance.
He continued: “I hear that some of our brothers who don’t even understand governance, have tried to critique the situation but unfortunately, when some people don’t understand what is in government and how you can save funds for the people, they could talk politics and criticize.
“But I am very confident that whatever we are about to do, we are doing it in the best interest of the state; we are trying to save money for the state, we are trying to save situations where you have cost overrun and cost escalations.
“We do hope that as soon as the first set of refunds come from the Federal Government, we would be able to access the bridging finance to be able to scale up the speed of the major projects that we have listed before the House of Assembly and utilize the money for some other sources.
“But as at today, we are still coping and we hope that very soon the Federal Government will start the process of refund and we will be in a position to ensure that we speed up all the projects we have.”
Okowa disclosed that a slowdown and depreciation of the Naira could be a major disaster because the bridging finance was meant to be a cost-saving measure for the state.
