The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State has claimed that reports stating that the state’s debt burden has been drastically reduced by over 40 per cent in the past year is false.
TheNGblog understands that the Executive Assistant to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe had claimed during a radio programme in Lagos that the governor reduced the state’s debt by more than ₦180 billion and saved over ₦205 billion through prudent management.
Reacting, the APC claimed that the report was aimed at deceiving the people of Delta.
Speaking via a statement, the APC Publicity Secretary, Valentine Onojeghuo, described the claim as “a pack of lies” meant to placate Deltans who are increasingly concerned about the state’s financial situation.
Onojeghuo lamented that Delta State is one of the poorest states in terms of capital project development.
The statement read in part, “The dubious claims of the Delta State Government and its officials that Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori’s administration has reduced the debt profile of the state from over N500 billion to about N370 billion as a laudable achievement is the most shameful lie ever peddled by any stretch of imagination.
“It is not a secret that Delta State is one of the states with the highest FAAC allocations and IGR, but with nothing meaningful to show for it in the last 20 years of PDP misrule.
“In the first place, the state got to this unenviable position of being the most heavily indebted state during the administration of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the grandfather of the ‘prosperity for all’ deception, where billions of naira were collected in dubious loans approved by the State House of Assembly under Sheriff Oborevwori as Speaker.
“This ugly trend continued up to the very last days of the Okowa government and the majority of these questionable loans were borrowed from a bank he is alleged to have vested interests in.
“And there is no indication that the state benefited anything from this colossal amount that was borrowed, as most of these monies were spent on his failed presidential ambition, while the rest went into installing Sheriff Oborevwori as his successor.
“The truth behind the state’s debt reduction claims by officials of the state government is that over half of federal revenue accruals to the state is being debited at source in strict compliance with irrevocable standing payment order already issued by the state government and used to service these debts that were piled up by both Okowa and Oborevwori, leaving the state with no funds to execute capital projects.
“Delta State is now one of the poorest states in terms of capital projects development and Deltans have watched with a deep sense of consternation the feeble attempt by the hirelings of the state government to push this false narrative of debt reduction through prudent management.”
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