Plateau APC Rejects N15billion Loan Approved For Governor Mutfwang By State Assembly

The Opposition All Progressive Congress APC in Plateau State have rejected the N15 billion loan approved by the Plateau State House of Assembly for the State Governor Barr. Caleb Mutfwang.

It would be recalled that the Plateau State House of Assembly had on Thursday approved Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s loan request on Thursday, allowing him to obtain a bank facility worth N15 billion for the payment of workers’ salaries and agricultural inputs.

According to the letter of request, there is a backlog of N11 billion in unpaid salaries, necessitating the governor’s request for house approval for the N15 billion bank facility.

But, in swift reaction the Opp osition APC in the State in a Press Statement issued on Friday by the State Publicity Secretary of the Party Hon. Sylvanus Namang rejected the approval, saying the reasons advanced for the loan are as unconvincing as they are not tenable.

“Our attention has been drawn to a report circulating in the social media which we have confirmed to be factual that the Plateau State House of Assembly has today, approved a loan of N15B as requested by Governor Caleb Mutfwang in just less than 3 weeks of the PDP administration in the state.

“The All Progressives Congress in Plateau State, being a critical stakeholder in the Plateau project, seriously objects to this loan question as it is a killer pill by the separate and unnecessarily hasty PDP administration which is known to have no regard for due process or walking the talk.

“The two-third majority enjoyed by the Plateau State House of Assembly is not a licence for recklessness and arbitrariness which if left unchecked, Plateau State would be worse for re turbulent days ahead.

“According to the reports, the loans are to be deployed for current purposes as such the payment of salaries and purchase of fertiliser which on the surface, the government wants to deceive the workforce which has been on strike that it cares for their welfare and the farming community in the state.

“The APC in Plateau state sees this as a facade and a temptation to pull the wool across the people’s eyes. The government having failed to install Interim Administrators in the local government to serve as condition pipes, decided to go for the N15 billion loan as an alternative to service its extra budgetary commitments.

“Government is a continuum and the past dispensation had made adequate budgetary provisions for payment of workers’ salaries and very essential products like fertiliser given the fact that Plateau State is largely an agrarian state.

“This bogus N15 billion loan approval is particularly more worrisome because for a loan to be collected, the following steps as spelt out in the Plateau State Debt Management Law, passed by the Plateau State House of Assembly and assented to by the Executive Governor and which have not been repealed must be duly and diligently followed before any financial institution, local or foreign can consider.

The APC however advise the PDP administration of the state to embark on issues of immediate concern to the people of the state, saying security should be the priority as the people are being incessantly killed and displaced by wicked and heartless murderers.