Abia Govt Denies N78billion Naria Debt

The Abia State government has denied borrowing N78 billion naira, saying it rather took N24 billion naira since Governor Okezie Ikpeazu assumed office 11 months ago as governor of the State.

Government House, Umuahia was reacting to startling revelations made by the National Bureau of Statistics which placed the State as the 5^th highest indebted State in Nigeria.

The State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Obinna Oriaku said the figures given by the Bureau were not correct.

He said of the N24 billion the state borrowed, N14.1 billion naira was made up of the bail- out fund and another N10 billion which was for infrastructural development.

Oriaku denied claims by the Bureau that Abia State debt profile stood at N78 billion naira. He said the state government has engaged the services of financial consultants to reconcile the financial position of the State.

“Though government is a continuum, from the period we took over, I want to believe that these figures are wrong. For what we got as bail out was N14.1 billion, what we got of course was uniform to every State.

“What we got from the excess crude was N10billion which makes it a total of N24 billion.

“This is the major make up of our debt, then of course, this does not exclude other little debts by way of foreign loans incurred by the last administration or during the period we were at the old Imo State.

BY GRACE IGWEANYI

PHOTO: OKEZIE IKPEAZU