– State governments have up till next week to facilitate their loans from foreign banks
– This is the position of the House committee on aids, loans and debt management
– The states have been mandated to submit the necessary documents to access the loan facility
The chairman House committee on aids, loans and debt management, Honourable Adeyinka Ajayi has given an ultimatum to states wishing to take loans from foreign banks.
Honourable Ajayi tasked the states to submit the necessary documents even and carry out all necessary house cleanings or forget their loan applications.
The committee on Wednesday, July 26 listened to the defense from states like; Abia, Enugu and Kano states and found that the three states intend to take loan facilities from either the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency (FDA).
Honourable Ajayi has steered the committee to greater heights since his appointment as the chairman. Photo credit: Channels TV
Kano state seeks to obtain a loan facility of 200 million dollars for the development of the Integrated Agric and Water Management and another 75 million dollars from the Islamic IDB and FDA, for the rehabilitation of the Greater Kano City Water Treatment Plant.
However from all indications, it appears the very strict committee led by Honorable Adeyinka Ajayi is bent on avoiding setting a precedence that would affect generations yet unborn in Kano state.
Honourable Ajayi has ordered the Kano state commissioner of finance, Honorable Kabir Dandago to produce necessary documents from the ministry of finance to corroborate claims made by the state, stressing that the information coming from the ministry are at variance with what is contained in documents brought before the committee.
His words: “As regards Kano state, I will urge you to do a little house cleaning, the hands of the committee is tied because from all indications Kano does not have the necessary documents and cannot readily produce an indicative offer letter from the institution it is seeking its loan facility.
“The committee is going to approach the ministry of finance with documents at its disposal to seek further clarifications.”
The chairman further cautioned the Kano state delegation to obtain in concrete terms, the details of the loan facility it is hoping to get from its foreign partners.
Other members of the committee who were not satisfied with the presentation earlier made by the Kano state delegation sued for caution as they could not see a baseline report showing the present position of Kano state.
A member of the committee, Honourable Jones Onyeriri charged the committee in particular and states in general to avoid making mistakes that would be regretted in future.
“If we go ahead to approve we will also have to follow the implementation of the projects so that the implication will not be on our heads,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the commissioner of finance for Kano state told the committee that his state intends to improve water supply to rural areas in the state from 22% to 60%.
He stressed that a new treatment plant in Wudil will cost 11 billion naira and it is expected that the bulk of the water project in the state would be financed by the IDB.
Another state seeking a loan which the committee listened to on was Abia state. The South-east state is applying for a loan facility of 200 million dollars to finance the Abia Integrated Infrastructure project.
Out of the amount, 120 million is to be dedicated to road infrastructure; 50 million for waste management and 18 million to finance water shed control.
The loan is expected to have a 50 years grace period and a ten years moratorium and will also have a commitment fee of 0.5 %.
File photo of the House of Reps in session. Photo credit: House of Representatives
ZENITHBLOG.com gathered that while officials of the Debt Management Office were available throughout the committee hearing to substantiate claims made by various states, their counterparts in the ministry of finance were absent throughout the engagement.
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