ACPN Raises Alarm Over Kwara Govt’s N1.35b Loan

The campaign organisation of Senator Gbemi Saraki the gubernatorial candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) has raised the alarm over the decision of the Peoples Democtaric Party-led Kwara State government to secure a N1.35 billion loan with barely one month left to end its tenure.

In a statement made available in the Kwara State capital, Ilorin yesterday, the campaign organization said its attention has been drawn to the decision of the PDP government to secure another loan of N1.35 billion from Oceanic Bank.

A letter to this effect, it further mentioned, has been sent to the State House of Assembly by Governor Bukola Saraki, adding that the purpose of the loan as reported by the NATIONAL PILOT, VOL 13. NO 41, is to enable government complete on-going road projects.

Reacting to the development, the Gbemi Saraki campaign organisation said “we will be glad to see that this government does not leave behind any abandoned project. We are however piqued by this latest move because we are aware that adequate budgetary provisions were made before the commencement of the projects.”

The campaign team thus submitted that it is astonishing that the PDP government could be seeking a fresh loan for projects that were duly approved and appropriated by the state House of Assembly and wondered where the money earlier approved for the project had gone to.

“How does one justify the decision of the out-going government to take a whopping N1.35 billion for the completion of roads that have been under construction for more than two years when its tenure is terminating in just two months?

“Every right-thinking Kwaran knows that the loan being sought could not have been truly meant for the completion of the roads as it is being claimed.

“Just last year, the same government floated a N30 billion bond for the purpose of completing all on-going projects in the state. We ask, on what has the N30 billion been spent? Are the roads to be completed now not part of the on-going projects for which the bond was secured?

“Again we ask, what has the PDP government done with the N75 million loan taken from six commercial banks in the state? What about the internally-generated revenue amounting to about N8billion collected in the last four years?” the Gbemi Campaign team further inquired, stating that already the PDP government knows that it cannot win the forthcoming elections in the state and will definitely leave by May 29.

“This is why it is trying all its best to corner as much as it could of the finance of the state and thereby leave a legacy of indebtedness and vicious poverty.”

Signed by its Director of Media, Tajudeen Kareem, the Gbemi Saraki campaign organisation in its statement reported that Kwara State’s debt profile already stands at an alarming N900 billion, adding that “we in the ACPN cannot fold our arms and watch our common resources being criminally plundered.”