31st August, 2015
Former Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information, Ita Awak, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) to stay action on the state government’s request for debt restructuring.
He said it was important until the Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and other relevant agencies conduct what he called a forensic audit of the state’s finances from May 29, 2007 to May 28, 2015, and issue a certificate of financial health.
In a statement, Ita Awak, wondered why the same administration which earlier said the state was not owing up to N60 billion will turn around to say the debt profile is N64.5 billion.
He accused Governor Udom Emmanuel and his Finance Commissioner, Mr Akan Okon, of being economical with the truth.
“From this development, it then means that Udom Emmanuel took the liberty to borrow, without any clearance from the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly, the extra N4.5 plus billion. He should come out and tell us exactly how much debt Akpabio left behind. Akwa Ibom people deserve to know that. We see his refusal to disclose the debt profile as part of efforts to protect his predecessor, Godswill Akpabio,” he said.
He maintained that the state has no reason to owe when it received over N3 trillion from the Federation Account in the last eight years.
“It is regrettable that despite this huge sum, people of the state never felt the impact. There is really nothing on ground to show that the state received that amount of money,” he added