Ebonyi Assembly approves Umahi’s N8.4bn CBN loans request

Ebonyi State House of
Assembly yesterday gave the
state government the nod to
take three loans from the
Central Bank of Nigeria for
various purposes.

This followed the letters
written to the House by the
governor, Dave Umahi, urging
the House to approve the
request.

The letters were read during
plenary. The loans include a N4.4 billion
salary arrears bailout from the
apex bank.

Others included a
N2bn loan for micro and
medium scale enterprises
development fund and a N2bn loan for rice production.

The letters were read by the
Leader of the House, Joseph
Nwaobasi, and accepted as a
working document, after
which the House dissolved
into committees of the whole House to deliberate on the
requests
.

The Minority Leader of the
House, Mrs Maria Ude Nwachi
(PPA), representing Afikpo
North West, in her
contribution, urged the state
government to ensure that the loans are utilized for the
purposes they are given and
not end up in private pockets
of a few individuals.

She said: "My mind skips
when I hear about these loans
for agriculture, my mind
skips. The reason is that most
times, the money will end up
in private pockets and the people that need the money
will not be able to access it" "The people will still be poor
and the people who have
access to it will plunder it.

I
am hoping that this present
government will deviate
from the norm by making sure the real farmers benefit
from the loan."

The chairman of the House
Committee on Agriculture,
Mrs Augusta Ude, promised
that the committee will
monitor the funds when
procured to ensure they are not diverted.

Speaker of the House, Hon
Ogbonnaya Nwifuru, put the
requests of the governor to
vote after the members spoke
in favor and it was
unanimously affirmed.