Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has said that his government was
\nforced to take a $75 million development loan from the World Bank, because
\nthe Federal Government led by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 16
\nyears had looted the nation\u2019s treasury and pauperized the states.<\/p>\n
He said it was a good thing that President Muhammadu Buhari came at the
\nright time to stop the liquidation of the country.<\/p>\n
The World Bank had approved a $225 million loan for Edo State Government
\nin 2012, to be implemented in three tranches of $75 million per annum.<\/p>\n
The first tranche of the loan was approved by the National Assembly in the
\n2012-2014 Federal Government External Rolling Borrowing Plan, while the
\nsecond tranche was approved by the National Assembly, last week.<\/p>\n
Addressing reporters at the Government House on Sunday, Mr. Oshiomhole
\nsaid \u201cIf the PDP did not steal the money, we would not need to borrow.
\nWhat we lost from the NLNG under the PDP Federal Government was about
\n$11.6 billion. Edo State\u2019s share of that money was more than N30 billion.
\nIf you realise that from every one billion dollars, we get more than N2.7
\nbillion. So if PDP did not steal and bleed the economy dry, our legitimate
\nrevenue stolen by the past PDP government and its men is more than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cPDP is simply not in a position to blame the victims of their own looting
\nwhich is unprecedented in the history of the country. My hope is that they
\nwould be brought to justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard President Buhari saying last week that after they finished
\nlooting the treasury, they even borrowed to loot. You heard the president
\nsay that they took a loan from China and they already had taken $600
\nmillion from the loan. By now if they were still there, there would have
\nfinished the rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the South-South zone, look at the debt profile, Edo is the least
\nborrowed. The only major loan we have taken since I assumed office was a
\nN25 billion bond out of which we have paid over N20 billion because we are
\npaying N530 million every month.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we speak, we have only about N5 billion left of that loan which will
\nbe liquidated before the end of this tenure. You heard of bailout, find
\nout what PDP states are borrowing under the bailout plan, not for
\ndevelopment but to pay salaries. But Edo State Government is up-to-date
\nwith salaries without bail out. You need to interrogate facts and not
\nreport these people as if they are responsible people because when you do
\nthat, people don\u2019t know the difference between mischief makers and
\nresponsible people.<\/p>\n
\u201cPDP should simply shut up because they destroyed everything. Carry out
\nyour own investigations. You read in the papers how much our neighboring
\nstates are borrowing? You heard of N20billion, N30 billion under two
\nmonths. To do what, to settle the invisibles. You hear them talking about
\nN14.5 billion. We are not borrowing to pay salaries, we are able to do
\nthat in spite of the massive looting by the PDP. I appeal to the media
\nbecause you are victims and you must interrogate these thieves when they
\nbreak the highway rules and want to divert you. When you ask questions,
\nthey say you want to witch-hunt. Why won\u2019t you witch-hunt when the witches
\nare killing people in the village.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, the only regret I have is that somehow, these rogues can
\nseemingly eat their cake and yours and go out to complain that the cake is
\nmissing when it is in their stomach. I also need you to consult the World
\nBank to look at the statement they issued that Edo is the second state,
\nLagos being the first; that these two states have shown sufficient
\nreforms, transparency, accountability in Internally Generated Revenue and
\nreforming the public policy to ensure value for money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are providing these facilities as a measure for encouraging other
\nstates to take a cue from what Lagos and Edo are doing. If this is the
\nbasis of support and you are listening to a bunch of armed robbers of what
\nthey think about decent society, they would rather borrow at 20% and they
\nare envious that we are attracting a facility more or less at zero cost of
\n1% spread out over 20 years. If you read the report of the Senate, it says
\nabout 17 states and these are PDP states have applied for this facility
\nbut because of their public image, the World Bank is not willing to loan
\nto them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI read in one of the papers that about $2.2 million donated by an NGO to
\nsupport the election was stolen and they were compelled to return it but
\nthe former Minister Finance said it was witchhunting because they have
\nrefunded the money but it was misapplied.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear PDP say nothing has happened in Edo State. Even the Hospital we
\nare building, the Benin City Water Storm project, just one project is more
\nthan the entire loan we have taken. So as we speak, Edo is the least
\nborrowed. Every state now is borrowing money for salaries. You are not
\njust to parrot the views of armed robbers. When you report, you say
\nhowever, it will be recalled that, that way, the reader understands who is
\nsaying the truth,\u201d Mr. Oshiomhole said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has said that his government was forced to take a $75 million development loan from the World Bank, because the Federal Government led by the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n