Oyigbo-Afam Road, Chokocho-Igbodo Road, the tenth flyover in Port
Harcourt and other projects.
The government said the loan would be repaid within eighteen months from
the State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Approval for the loan was given during the Rivers State Executive
Council meeting presided over by Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike at the
Government House, Port Harcourt on Monday.
Briefing journalists on the outcome of Monday’s meeting, the
Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim,
explained that the loan would be used to fund people oriented projects
that would further enhance development in all the nooks and crannies of
the State.
Nsirim said projects to be funded with the loan include, the Nabo
Graham-Douglas Campus of the Nigerian Law School at Rumueme, Port
Harcourt, the Chokocho-Igbodo Road in Etche Local Government Area, the
Oyigbo-Afam Road in Oyigbo Local Government Area.
Others are the construction of new Magistrate courts, construction of
Judicial Institute for training of judicial officers in the State that
would enhance the justice delivery and the Rumuokwurusi-Elimgbu flyover,
which would be the tenth flyover that will be constructed by the
Governor Wike’s administration.
“This loan has a repayment period of 18 months, with effect from October
2021, and to be completed in April 2023 from the State’s Internally
Generated Revenue. The repayment period is N1, 547, 874, 350.66
monthly.”
The Commissioner for Information and Communications remarked that all
these wide range of the projects are people oriented and they are
intended to further enhance development in all the nooks and crannies of
the State.
He reaffirmed Governor Wike’s administration avowed commitment to ensure
that all projects that are initiated by the government are completed
before the end of the tenure.
Nsirim further maintained that the Governor Wike led administration will
not abandon any project it initiated.
In the same vein, the Commissioner for Works, Elloka Tasie-Amadi, said
the N25 billion loan was deemed necessary because all the projects it
would be used to fund are time bound.
“The loan was deemed necessary because if you consider all the projects
intended to be funded by this loan, for instance, the Oyigbo-Afam Road
or the 27 kilometer Chokocho-Igbodo Road, these projects have
construction time, which means that it is very important that we
commence the projects immediately and take advantage of the coming dry
season as well.
“We also have considered the inflationary trend in the country and found
out that we don’t know what the prices of these projects will become if
we take much longer time to activate them. So, these considerations have
made the Rivers state government to take this loan from Zenith Bank to
fund all these projects.”