Ebonyi Govt debunks alleged borrowing of over 111bn

From Nwogha Ndubuisi, Abakaliki

Ebonyi state Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Dr Leonard Uguru has debunked the state involvement in the collective loan borrowing of 111.24 billion naira from domestic and foreign financiers in their first six months of office. The state Commissioner explained that the state governor, Rt Hon Francis Nwifuru has not borrowed from both internal and foreign creditors since assumption of office on May 29, 2023.

Uguru, who was reacting from the publication of Debt Management Office,DMO which reported that Ebonyi government under Francis Nwifuru among other 16 states had between June-December 2023 had borrowed $125.1m(111.24bn) from World Bank and International Monetary Fund where the state according to the report accumulated external debt of $37.54 million. Speaking, the state Commissioner explained that the state has not borrowed money since assumption of office as the governor has vowed never to borrow to fund his government. "Since the inception of this administration, Ebonyi state government has not borrowed any money whether foreign or domestic loan. So, any organization that's writing that Ebonyi is among the states that has borrowed money, I don't know where they are getting their data. He noted that Ebonyi ranked the least debt profile states in South East maintaining that the governor has plans to run a debt free administration. "So, in South East states, Ebonyi state is still the least in both domestic and foreign debt. "Even though we have trace of debt which is the 150 million dollar loan from Africa Development Bank and Islamic Bank inherited from the past administration in the reconstruction of ring road which is what made the loan to increase, but it worths it as the road cut across various Local Government Areas of the state. Outside that, I don't think there's any other much debt owed by the previous state government. The state Commissioner reiterated that the current administration in the state is focused on human capacity development adding that while less attention is being paid on infrastructure,that the governor has mapped out plan for the 2nd phase of the one billion naira empowerment to 500 hawkers. He enjoined investors to take advantage of the peaceful and environment business friendly disposition introduced by the All Progressives Congress government of governor Nwifuru to invest in the state.