Government of Cross River State
owed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Bank several
millions of Dollars collected as loan to construct Tinapa Premier Business and
Leisure Resort.
Governor Donald Duke led
administration had initially budgeted USD350 million for the project but as at
its commissioning on April 2, 2007, the sum had increased to about USD450
million with some reports pegging the actual cost at USD470 million, our source
said.
This is nearly NGN150 billion
today but was about NGN56 billion as at 2007 a source further
disclosed.
The huge debts left behind and
the inability of Tinapa to kick off 3 years after completion saw the loans
under Governor Liyel Imoke’s administration accruing neck-breaking interest
with the Asset Management Company of Nigerian (AMCON) attempting to buy over
NGN30 billion of the debt the state owed Union Bank. But a chunk of that money
was gotten from the ECOWAS bank.
It was gathered that a bus load
of the bank staff from its Abidjan, Ivory Coast headquarters arrived the state
recently and threatened the Ayade administration to either pay back the loan or
the bank will take over the facility. However, a source hinted that Governor
Ben Ayade was worried as he was not aware of the debt until when the ECOWAS
bank team arrived the State.
When contacted on phone, the
Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ayade could not confirm or deny that the
State Government owed the Bank. He referred our correspondent to the
commissioner for Information, Mrs Rosemary Archibong who had refused to pick
her calls.
Sadly, the Cross River State
Government has been in high external debts accumulated since 2005. The state
along 2 others were said to have crossed their borrowing thresholds and were
barred from obtaining any commercial loan facility due to poor credit rating.
Our source said this, and the
deductions at source from the DMO, of the state’s statutory allocation which
has seen it receive a paltry NGN8.9 billion between January to June 2017
(NGN9.3 billion was deducted), has seen the state nearly grind to a halt.
But Governor Ayade in different
fora has said that despite these challenges, he is bent on industrializing the
state as it is the only way out of the financial conundrum the state is
currently in.
“I know no sleep trying to ensure
that salaries are paid because if we don’t pay that, there will be social
tension which is why it is a priority in my administration,” Ayade told the
Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission chairman earlier this
year.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com