The Akwa Ibom State domestic debt profile, as at March 7, 2022, has risen to N389.55 billion allegedly collected for the completion of ongoing development projects.
This is as Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Monday, March 7, passed a resolution authorising Governor Udom Emmanuel to raise N150 billion from the money market for the funding of ongoing projects in the state.
Published data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) in December 2021 put the domestic debt of Akwa Ibom State at N234.85 billion.
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In January 2022, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly approved N4.7 billion for the state government.
In August 2015 under Governor Udom Emmanuel, Mr. Akan Okon, then Commissioner for Finance told Akwa Ibom people that former Governor Godswill Akpabio’s debt profile was N64.5 billion, owed commercial banks.
He expressed the government’s desirability to convert the state’s debt to Federal Government bonds.
Before the passage of N150 billion loan request, Governor Emmanuel, in his request letter read at plenary, had stated that the government would raise “a financial instrument” either through “promissory note discounting” or “direct credit substitute” to facilitate completion of the projects.
In the letter read by the House of Assembly’s Clerk, Mrs Mandu Umoren, Emmanuel had told the lawmakers that one advantage of the instrument was that it would not require Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) or any guarantee, hence no monthly deduction would be made from federal allocations to the state.
However, the House Leader, Sir Udo Kierian Akpan, who led the discussion on the governor’s request during plenary said the governor had assured that he intended to “create” the needed money within the money market, and not taking a loan.
Akpan said: “For me, the first thing the governor has tried to make us know is that the instrument he is going to raise is not a loan. He has what it takes to create the money from the market without involving the assets of the state.
“The second thing is that the instrument does not require deduction of allocations to the state. If the money is not going to be deducted from the federation account, that means we have no issue because what would have been an issue is how do we get the money refunded.
“The governor is a financial expert and a banker, he knows how to create the money from the banks. He knows how they trade, he knows how they get promissory note, and he knows how they get financial instrument sorted out.
“Having looked at what he wants to do with the money, I believe that it is something that is good for Akwa Ibom people. All we can do is to make sure that the various MDAs are properly oversighted to ensure that projects are completed, and on schedule to make sure that Akwa Ibom benefits from the money raised to the state.
“The airport terminal building, the taxi way construction, drainage system in the airport, payment for other projects that were done before the governor came in and the major road construction spanning the 31 local government areas of the state, he needs the money for these projects to be done,” he explained.
Barr. Aniefiok Dennis (Etinan), David Lawrence (Eket), Aniekan Uko (Ibesikpo Asutan), Uduak Odudoh (Ikot Abasi/Eastern Obolo), Charity Ido (Ukanafun), and Godwin Ekpo (Ibiono Ibom) said they supported the governor’s request because they wanted to be part of the history of a good legacy to the Akwa Ibom people.
The lawmakers unanimously passed the motion for the loan request.
When The Mail newspapers reported, early last week, that Governor Emmanuel was ‘secretly’ seeking permission of the assembly to obtain a N150 billion loan facility, many commentators doubted the veracity of the story on how he (governor) would make repayment as his tenure would end in the next 14 months.
Straightnews gathered that the loan approval might have been brokered between the governor and some House members who want to return to the house and others who are eyeing higher political offices in the land.
AKHA approves N45 billion Supplementary Budget
Meanwhile, the House has passed a Supplementary Budget of N45 billion for 2022 financial year.
The budget was passed on Monday after Uduak Odudoh, chairman of finance and appropriation committee, presented a report during the plenary session.
While presenting his report, Odudoh said his committee engaged with the state’s finance commissioner and other stakeholders on the governor’s request for passage of the budget which came three months into the 2022 fiscal year.
While N41 billion was approved for recurrent expenditure, N4 billion was earmarked for capital expenditure.
Odudoh said the budget would be funded through statutory revenue, derivation revenue as well as direct credit substitutes and receivable discounting facility.
The House had received a bill for the supplementary budget from Governor Emmanuel last Thursday to make an increase in the 2022 budget size of the state passed in December, 2021, from N586 billion to N631 billion, an increase of N45 billion from when it was approved.
