Barely three days to the governorship and Kogi West senatorial elections in Kogi state, the Senate on Wednesday approved N10.069 billion as a promissory note for the state.
A month ago, President Muhammadu Buhari had written to the Senate and requested they approve the sum of N10.069 billion as a promissory note for Kogi State.
Buhari had explained that the money is bond issuance to settle local debts on various projects executed by the Kogi State government on behalf of the federal government.
A promissory note is a financial instrument that contains a written promise by one party (the note’s issuer or maker) to pay another party (the note’s payee) a definite sum of money, either on-demand or at a specified future date.
The approval of the money to Kogi by the Senate, on Wednesday, followed the adoption of the report of the committee on local and foreign debts. The report was presented by the chairman of the committee, Clifford Ordia (Edo Central).
Ordia said the committee visited Kogi state to ascertain the genuineness of the projects Kogi claimed it executed and was satisfied with the projects. It urged the Senate to approve the money for the state.
In his remarks, Senator Barau Jibril (Kano Central) said Kogi state did well by executing projects on behalf of the federal government.
Barau urged “the Senate to approve the fund so that other states can take a cue from it to initiate and execute projects for the overall development of the state.”
However, Senate minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe kicked against the approval and said because the election in Kogi state will hold in the next three days, if the money is approved, it will be misused.
“What I don’t want is misuse of the funds because the election in Kogi will hold on Saturday and if the money is approved today, it will be misused.
“We the minority think that it is not the right time to for the approval because the money can be misused, so the approval should be withheld for one week till after the election,” Abaribe stated.
Amidst controversy, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan put the matter to vote and the Senators unanimously gave their nod.
Speaking after, Lawan explained that Kogi State was the only state among 24 other states that were not granted the request by the 8th Senate and that if the approval is not granted, it would amount high level of injustice.
