Emmanuel Kehinde, ilorin
A governorship aspirant in Kwara State during the 2011 and 2015 electioneering, Engineer Sunday Adebayo Babalola, has advised the Kwara State Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, not to access more loans for the state.
He said it would be sad if the governor plunged the state into debt trap process, adding that such would mortgage the future of Kwarans.
In an interview with our Correspondent in Ilorin on Thursday, he stated that the reported plan by the Kwara State Government to access the Federal Government’s Bridging Finance Facility worth over N18 billion would increase the debt burden of the state and consequently, might plunge the state into a debt trap.
According to him, such will be a great disservice to Kwarans.
The Kwara PDP had in a recent statement said the loan would be at the interest rate of 9 per cent, adding that it was coming less than two months after the state government obtained a N35 billion loan, which it claimed would be spent on some projects.
The party also had said that the State would also, anytime soon, receive another N2.6 billion loan from the Federal government, under its Livestock Transformation programme.
It added that if the Governor eventually obtain the proposed N18.74billion loan facility from the Federal Government, the government would have succeeded in incurring over N50 billion loans within the space of 5 months.
Currently, Kwara State receives an average of N3.8 billion monthly allocation from the Federation Account and N1.8billion average monthly allocation to the local government councils.
Also the Kwara Internal Revenue Service, KWIRS collects an average of N1.8 billion monthly.
Babalola, stated that the governor had not shown justification for the already acquired loans or bond.
He alleged that the loan may be diverted for Abdulrasaq’s second term ambition.
Babalola said, “This is very sad situation. How can somebody collect for the government almost N50 billion worth of loans within five or six months. The one he collected, what has he done with it? What are the programmes that he is planning to do with it? We can not see anything on ground with the one he already collected and he wants to collect another one.
“Remember, he has not upto two years left. So what will he achieve within one year that he has not achieved with close to three years that he has been governor. Majorly, he is going to be leaving for future generations such loans who will then been carrying such unnecessary burden.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
