The debt profile of Imo State since the assumption of office of Governor Hope Uzodinma has continued to increase, with the recent ten billion naira (#10bn) loan approved by the State House of Assembly.
The State Legislature last Friday held an emergency plenary session, irrespective of the ongoing Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN strike.
Reason for the sitting, Trumpeta Newspaper gathered was basically for the approval of a loan facility for the Governor.
The loan we gathered was officially approved for Access Bank PLC.
According to statistics, the recent approval would bring it to a total of three loan facilities from different Commercial banks for the past one year of Governor Uzodinma’s assumption in office.
First was a #4bn naira loan, followed by the recently approved #8.5bn from Fidelity Bank PLC.
While this poses serious concern in the State, especially those who consider it of excess the consistent loan profile the Uzodinma administration has plunged the State into, more questions concerning the IGR base of the State has also cropped up.
It would be recalled that on inception, the governor had claimed of saving some billions of monies from ISOPADEC fund.
Also, the whereabout of LGA allocation and what the funds were used since then had remained unanswered by the government, hence posing public worry why the State would continue to dwell in borrowing more money.
Meanwhile, there is air of disaffection rocking the State Lawmakers over the procedure the last Friday’s plenary was held.
Information reaching Trumpeta news desk has it that while majority of the members were in their respective LGAs on personal engagements, the House Leadership led by Speaker Paul Emeziem had already sat outside the chambers and wrote resolutions.
It was gathered that the clerk sent them notification for the sitting slated for 11am around some minutes past 9 o’clock.
“We were told that the sitting would hold by 11am, but before 9am, the Speaker and his leadership had already sat and wrote the resolution of the 10bn loan approval;
“We were shocked when the Speaker read out the resolutions to us that came at the slated time. And you know how it used to be, they succeeded in carrying out their target. We were not carried along the process”, an aggrieved lawmaker said.
Aside approving the loan, another shocker in the history of the 9th House of Imo Assembly was the passing of two different Executive Bills.
A bill for the enactment of Imo Security Organization was passed, alongside a bill for Imo State geographic service for the purposes of land allocation and its related matters.
The House was reported to have further approved Commissioner-nominees for the governor, prior to the sack of twenty Commissioners last week.
However, it was discovered that no single House of Assembly Correspondent nor official Assembly media crew were alerted for the sitting, as the Lawmakers reportedly sneaked into the complex to avoid being noticed by anybody.
INNONEWS
