By Anne Azuka
Delta State government on Monday said it is not taking a fresh loan of N100 billion naira as it is being alleged by the opposition party in the state.
The State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Fidelis Tilije at a news conference in Asaba, said the state government only approached the State House of Assembly to seek approval for a change of the Lead Bank for the discounting finance it had earlier got approval to access.
Mr Tilije hinted that the decision to change the Lead Bank was that it was not working in the speed expected by the Delta State government.
‘’All we did was to go back in the same spirit of accountability and transparency to the State House of Assembly to seek their consent to enable us change the lead agent, the lead bank for that discounting facility exercise.
” It is not a new loan, it is not a new discounting facility, it is a new bridging finance. It is still the same one hundred billion naira that we have been talking about since then till now. All that we did was to change the lead bank to another lead bank,’’ he stated .
The Delta State Commissioner for Finance further explained that the discounting facility of one hundred billion naira was sought to enable the state government to fund ongoing legacy projects across the state.
Mr Tilije who said the Delta State government was being owed two hundred and forty billion naira as accrued oil proceeds from the federation account, stated that a total of N19.6 billion naira refund of the amount had so far being paid to it and a total of N80 billion naira from the lead bank for the discounting finance.
He stated, ‘’I had said earlier on that we had gotten thirty billion naira initially but as we speak today, because of the change of the lead agent, we have gotten eighty billion naira. We are still trying to access the additional N20 billion naira.
“We are doing everything humanly possible to ensure that there are reasonable fundings for the incoming government, and that is why in the first instance, we have decided to discount only N100 billion naira out of the N240 billion naira that is coming in respect of the refund from the federation account”.
Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu gave an assurance that the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa would continue to be transparent and prudent in allocation of resources accruing to the state for the benefits of all residents the state.
