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From Jude Dangwam, Jos
The All Progressives Congress in Plateau State Chapter has kicked against the approval of N15 billion naira loan facility requested by the Plateau State House of Assembly to the Executive Governor of Plateau State Barr. Caleb Mutfwang.
They accused the PDP administration of possibly plunging the State into a debt profile of N720 billion naira if the new administration can take loan of N15 billion in three weeks of it’s existence.
The State Publicity Secretary of the party Hon. Sylvanus Namang in a statement made available to Newsmen on Friday insisted that due diligence must be followed.
“This bogus N15 billion loan approval is particularly more worrisome because for a loan to be collected, the State Debt Management Advisory Committee must sit to discuss the purpose and necessity of the loan for the state.”
Namang said Plateau State cannot be operated as if the state is “under a military junta where things are done by fiat. If in three weeks we are taking a loan of N15 billion what will be the debt position of the state in four years from now? Simple arithmetic would put this at N720 billion!” he lamented.
He further explained that for a serious issue as loan acquisition of such magnitude, the State Executive Council must approved such loan before forwarding it to the House of Assembly for deliberation.
“The Exco Approval must then be transmitted to the House of Assembly for their discussion and approval which cannot be passed as was done today at its very first formal sitting as Members of the 10th House of Assembly.
“Mandatorily, such approvals by the State Executive Council and the House of Assembly would then be forwarded to Ministry of Finance and Debt Management Department to further process.
“These two agencies are to do other processes such as; Raising of Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) seeking for the Debt Management Office and Minister of Finance approval before any serious financial commitment can be considered” he explained
The State Publicity Secretary allegedly stated that there are people advising the Governor wrongly and cautioned. “The governor should be wary of certain characters he has appointed as Special Advisers to oversee the affairs of critical institutions as the House of Assembly who apart from lacking in capacity would always only feed him with toxic advice.”
The party called on the state government to embark on issues of immediate concern to the people of the state which “insecurity should be accorded the first priority as our people are being incessantly killed and displaced by wicked and heartless murderers.”
