₦airaland Forum

The Akwa Ibom State government owed commercial banks N64.5 billion when Udom Emmanuel took over from Godswill Akpabio as governor, the state Commissioner for Finance, Akan Okon, has said. Mr. Okon who spoke, Wednesday, in Uyo during a conversation on #ProsperityWithoutOil, organised by the Independent Newspaper Publishers Association, said the state government decided to restructure the debt into federal government bond so as to lessen the burden of servicing it.

“The loan was to be repaid within a period of three years, and the debt servicing obligation was in the region of N3.5 billion every month.
“Given what is on ground now, if we receive N7 billion monthly and pay out N3.5 billion, what is left won’t even be enough to do anything,” Mr. Okon said, adding that Akwa Ibom’s monthly revenue from the federation account in the last 10 months wasn’t up to one-sixth of what it used to receive some two to four years ago.

He said the window provided by the federal government bond allowed the state to pay back the loan in 20 years. Even at that, Mr. Okon said, “Our cost profile today is much higher than five years ago when we used to receive between N25 billion to N30 billion (monthly)”. “But we are able to use it and the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to make sure that workers salaries are paid.”

Both Mr. Okon and Mr. Emmanuel had served in Mr. Akpabio’s government, though briefly. Mr. Okon was finance commissioner, while Mr. Emmanuel was the secretary to the state government.

The focus of the present administration, according to Mr. Okon is to block leakages, shore up the IGR, and pull the state economy away from being dependent on oil money.
“We are blessed with very arable lands that we could grow agricultural products year in, year out. Take for example, the price of crude oil is $40 per barrel, and the price of palm oil is $90 per barrel as we speak today.“Akwa Ibom in years past used to occupy fourth position, nationwide, in cocoa production. “The government is today doing everything to encourage cocoa farmers to increase the area under cultivation, because we believe we can earn foreign exchange in this area,” the finance commissioner said.

The commissioner also responded to public criticism against bank loans so far collected by the current administration.

“I don’t know why we are afraid of loans. It is important we think outside the box. There is no money as it used to be before. Salaries take 70 per cent of the state’s monthly allocations from federation account.

“We need money for road construction and other projects. Even in the United States, government takes loans to finance government businesses."

asha80:
I am not sure how sw,nc and ss are free from this onslaught with your submission in the last paragraph

firsttymum:
Kikikikikikikikiki I miss you jare
I'm fine o.
I don't wanna be judged but not all of us can handle certain things..

firsttymum:
I'm here

omenka:
So terrible what these guys are doing. Gosh.

omenka:
@ Midolian, Fulanimafia: I can't post on the politics section right now so I'd like one of you o do this.

There's a thread by one Tryna.0936 www.nairaland.com/3080968/islamization-nigeria-a-huge-possibility that would soon be taken over by his fellow religious scaremongers. These people would rest at nothing until people of all religion different from theirs are seen as threats.

At the end of the thread is a picture of Assange holding a newspaper with a caption "For those who know who Julian Assange is. For those who love freedom to worship and democracy".

The moment I saw the picture, I knew something was wrong with it and hence the entire thread:

Here's the real version of that picture and I egg you to upload it unto the thread. If you can't download it through this post, simply google "Julian Assange holding a guardian newspaper" and you'd get it.

Thanks.


Cc: Mod.ath, Babacele, Jarus.

feldido:
So Only Punch have exclusivity over the Panama Papers?

eyeview:
Prior to May 29,1999, adequate accomodations were built for these ministers and principal officers but Obj sold off everything to the past occupants.

bejeiodus:
I hope this will mark the end of the controversies that have trailed the budget since it was submitted to the National Assembly. The executive must ensure adequate implementation of the budget to show to Nigerians that the budget is worth the wait. I only pray there won't arise another reason not to sign it. So much is hinged on that budget and the earlier it is signed the better for all of us.

Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology, made the condemnation on Sunday at Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi. 

He was addressing newsmen on the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) South-East stakeholders meeting. According to him, the call is uncalled for, as President Muhammadu Buhari has directed relevant agencies to take appropriate actions in halting the killings by suspected herdsmen.

Super1Star:
I thought they said they have ran away!!!

Please burn down the entire forest with them.

TPAND:
Nigerians are dying, the economy is getting tougher and tougher by the day, Buhari sign this heck of budget.

The budget went back and forth until last week when the presidency and the legislators set up a joint committee headed by Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun Suleimon to resolve the impasse.

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to receive a clean copy of the budget details today, ending weeks of stand off with the legislators. Buhari submitted budget bill to the National Assembly in December but he withheld assent when the legislators introduced many changes to it.


The budget went back and forth until last week when the presidency and the legislators set up a joint committee headed by Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun Suleimon to resolve the impasse. Minister of Budget and National Planning Udoma Udo Udoma represented the presidency on the committee.Sources in the committee said the grey areas had been trashed out.

A member of the committee told Daily Trust last night that the document would be submitted   to President Buhari today.“We’ve done our work already. All that we’re now doing is finishing touches in order to ensure that there’s no single mistake in the document to be submitted to the president,” the source said.

The source added that after the submission, it was likely that  Buhari would sign the budget immediately.

Both the Senate Leader Ali Ndume and Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang confirmed to Daily Trust   yesterday that the committee was through with its assignment. Speaking on the assignment, Senator Ndume said:   “ We are done with our assignment, we gave ourselves the deadline of  last Friday and by then we were through but we are meeting tomorrow(today) to finalise our work on the budget.  If we finish, we will submit it to the president immediately for his assent.” 
Asked on the grey areas, he said: “I’ll agree we have areas of disagreement and we have looked and ironed out the areas. We have also looked at critical areas. We are working tirelessly in order to get it done.
“We are meeting tomorrow (Today) to reconsider grey areas, if we finish, we will then take it to the president for him to assent it.”

Contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate), Senator Ita Enang  said the committee members were almost through with their assignment. “They are almost concluding, they are doing a very good work and they dedicated all their time to it. In the next few hours, they will finish. I don’t know the exact time that they will submit their report, all I know is that they have gone very far in their assignment,” he said.

The contentious areas include removal of the Lagos-Calabar rail project from the budget and inclusion of N40bn projects in Ministry of Works, 386 projects in the ministry of Agriculture, among others, by the National Assembly.


The budget Highlights are: 


*The construction of 7,068 housing units in the six geo-political zones and Abuja at N44.5 billion.

*The rehabilitation of Lagos-Ibadan road - N50 billion.

*The Kano-Maiduguri road (Section I-V) - N16 billion.

*Lagos-Calabar rail way line project - N60 billion.

*The concession of 2nd Niger Bridge in Anambra and Delta states - N17 billion.



*Modernisation of Lagos-Kano standard gauge rail line project N52.7billion.

*The completion of Abuja (Idu)- Kaduna 186.5KM single tract rail line N18.2 billion.

*Social welfare scheme - N500 billion.
The record N2 trillion capital vote is expected to reflate the economy, create jobs and reduce unemployment.
 



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Super1Star:
I am not an APC person. I have never been and will never be.

Supporting PMB does not make me an APC person. He was the lesser evil out of the 2 contestants.

If a credible party presents a better candidate than Buhari in 2019, I will route for him with all my might like I did for Buhari.

I am for good governance.

TonyeBarcanista:
Like I said earlier, there are interest groups within the party fighting for their interest and I am taking siddon look approach for now before pitching tent....

After the roforofo, the party will do reconciliation and kick out Buhari in 2019. This is not uncommon in political parties in Nigeria

Babacele:
that injunction shall torn apart soon..y d fear to defend himself? my fairlady is still blind no matter how long.. sup Mo?

rudebouy:
Madam, I've bin reading ur comments for some time now. U too dey make sense. Abeg u don marry?

Sheriff had proposed an amendment to the party’s constitution, whereby he added a clause that the body would need to consult him before it could call for any meeting.

A former National Chairman of the party, Sen. Ahmadu Ali, who was present at the NEC meeting, was said to have called the attention of the NEC members to the unusual manner in which the members of the National Working Committee were trying to amend the constitution.

woodcook:
It may be easy for you to fork out 1000 as toll for a trip from Lagos to Akure, if I recall correctly that with 18k minimum wage that mounts to about 5% of your salary on toll. Come on sister, let us be realistic, when we canvas about issues like this you don't based your argument on what you can afford but what is good for the larger proportion of the road users more are mostly poor. A better society is not that that caters for the needs of those that can afford it but that that sees to the needs of those that are less fortunate.

blithe2nice:
Why didn't he increased it since,only now that he is about to leave the position. Osho mo OLE.....

agarawu23:
see no fall my hand o. I don bet my balls say you alone go bring me 200 votes from that end

Money no be your prob.

Ayam not a man!!

EazyMoh:
Madam calm down we were talking about APC presidential primary election in the future, not general election.
We all know Saraki and Kwankwaso are sympathetic to the same old PDP blood, and so is Atiku. going by the last APC primary election result, the nPDP delegate votes is a force to reckon especially those from the north.
Also mark you all those PDP members that have been trooping into APC majority become automatic delegates in APC. They can easily be influenced to work for Saraki/Kwankwaso/Atiku, especially in 2023.