Ogun Lawmakers Approve N25b Loan For Amosun

The Ogun State House of Assembly today approved the request by Governor Ibikunle Amosun to obtain an internal loan of N25 billion to him execute government programmes in the state.

The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Surajudeen Ishola Adekunbi while announcing the passing the House Resolution 043, charged the executive to ensure that the projects are evenly distributed across the 20 local government council areas of the state.

Speaking on the floor of the House today, the Chairman House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Hon. Olusola Bankole representing Ado Odo/ Ota State Constituency, disclosed that the governor has explained why the loan has to be obtained and terms of payment which, according to him, are reasonable.

Contributing to the bill, Hon. Job Akintan commended the executive arm of government for the due process it took in its quest to obtain the loan.

“The executive has to be commended for following due process in getting the loan. I have been in this Honourable House for some years. The past government had no recourse to contact us before going into the capital market. I want to strongly appeal to my colleagues here that we give this bill an accelerated passage so that the governor will be able to fulfill all our electioneering promises to our people,” he said.

Several lawmakers who spoke on the bill supported it but quickly reminded the House that the projects must be properly monitored by the government so as not to end up as white elephant projects.

Hon. Remmy Hazzan, representing Odogbolu State Constituency, lauded the executive for its bold step and reminded the House of how due process was not followed by the last administration when it needed a loan.

According to him, “we cannot compare the process this government is taking to that of the past government. When I saw the letter from the governor, I was convinced that we can have as low as this percentage for the interest when the man at the helm of affairs then was telling us that it can never be possible. I want to urge this Honourable House to throw their weight behind this bill so that our people will have course to smile soonest.”

In a letter sent to the House Governor Amosun seeking for the approval to obtain the loan, it was stated that,”…..for us to deliver on our promises to our people during the campaign, we need to get this Internal loan/ Overdraft of N25 billion which will be much needed in these five core sectors like Education, Health, Agriculture, Infrastructure development and Security. The repayment plan falls within the tenure of this administration and the interest is just 13%……”

The loan is to be taken from any combination of these five banks, namely, First Bank, Guaranty Trust, Skye, UBA and Sterling banks.

The House has been adjourned till Tuesday 16 August, 2011.

By Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta