I inherited N92.62bn debt – Okowa

…Delta Assembly approves N10bn loan for governor

Delta State Governor, If- eanyi Okowa, has said his administration in- herited a debt profile of N96.62billion from the Emmanuel Uduaghan-led government. Okowa made the disclosure in a letter sent to the State House of Assembly requesting it for the ap- proval of N10 billion loan. The letter read by the speaker of the House, Monday Igbuya said the new administration in the state met a huge bank and capital mar-
ket debt burden of about N96.62 billion with a scheduled monthly repayment of N4.6 billion. He noted that the state had gotto an unsustainable level of in- debtedness exacerbated by declin- ing oil prices and consequent low Receipt from Federation Account. The governor, who requested for the approval of the N10 billion loan from the lawmakers, noted that the loan was occasioned by the ongoing financial crash as well as plan to free resources for other development purposes. He said the loan was for restruc- turing of existing loan facilities which to be sought from Zenith
Bank Plc. According to him, constrained from the foregoing and in order to free resources for other develop- ment purposes, his administration has resorted to the lead banker, Zenith Bank PLC which has offered to restructure the state government existing loan facilities and the House of Assembly as well as to avail the state government a term loan of N10 billion. He said the N96.62billion debt was in addition to the monthly repayment of Delta State Infra- structure Development Bond of N50 billion obtained by the past administration in 2011.

He stated that the restructuring of the existing facility and obtain- ing of the N10 billion loan was consented to in principle, subject to the approval of the house. He however, opined that the re- structuring of the existing facilities and acceptance of the N10 billion term loan will mitigate the harsh impact of the liquidity crises, re- duce the time of lag in the payment of salaries, pensions and overhead costs as well as ensure the take off of some key projects that are key to the agenda of his administration. The House however, unani- mously approved the N10 billion loan.

IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Asaba