The Executive Governor of Kwara state AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has given an insight on controversy surrounding the debt profile of kwara state.
He made this statement during an interactive session with Kwara APC online media team, Online Publishers, social media influencers and kwara Rebuilders team on Saturday at the government house.
The governor said kwara has infrastructure deficit which informed the government to acquire N27 Billion Bond for infrastructure development.
“When we came, we paid backlogs of salaries coupled with COVID-19 pandemic so there wasn’t enough of funding. That’s why we went to take a N27 Billion Bond. Yes people said it N35 Billion, we applied at Debt Management Office for N35 Billion Bond, they approved N35 Billion, the state is credit worthy of the N35 Billion but when we went to the market we took N27 Billion and out of the N27 Billion, we have spent N10 Billion and the N17 Billion is still in the Bank” He explained.
“The Governor also stated that, the bond is not with the state government because it a private bond different from the commercial bond the former administration took which would be handed over to the government. They took the bond and couldn’t complete the cargo terminal, metropolitan square and was unable to construct trailers’ park as proposed”
“The private bond we took, protect the investors, the bond and the people of the state. Which means if you say you are putting N1 Billion in Kwara state university, Ilesha Baruba and OSI campuses, they can not put the money elsewhere. The bond as agreed with the Kwara state House of Assembly, you can only use it in those places. That’s the beauty of the fund we cannot divert it in another project.” Governor AbdulRahman added
One of the challenges highlighted by the Governor was the exchange rate from N350 to N650 so also the cost of building materials which has increased making the contractors to complain. He informed that contractors are being encouraged to complete the projects because the money (bond) is fixed and the government cannot approach DMO for more money that why some of the projects are slow.
He however gave Kwarans his word that these projects would be completed and commissioned before the end of 2022