Taraba assembly approves Kefas’ N206bn loan request to finance supplementary budget

The Taraba house of assembly has approved the N206,778 billion loan request by Agbu Kefas, governor of the state to fund the 2023 supplementary budget.

The lawmakers approved Kefas’ request during plenary on Friday.

The loan will be taken from four commercial banks — Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa, Keystone Bank and Fidelity Bank — to execute various projects in the state. 

A breakdown of the budget showed that the sum of N50 billion was earmarked for the ministry of education, N40 billion for infrastructure, while agriculture, security and health got N30 billion each.

Micro-finance bank, judiciary and house of assembly got N5 billion each.

The women affairs ministry, digital economy and waste management received N2 billion, respectively.

Other sectors got N5.476 billion, while N5 billion was reserved to settle gratuity and enrol more local government retirees into the state’s pension payroll.

“The security of the facility from Zenith Bank Plc shall be deductions from federal allocations to Taraba, security for the facility from UBA Plc shall be deductions from Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC), while security for the facility from Fidelity Bank shall be deductions from the state’s income value-added tax (VAT) and the security for the facility from Key Stone Bank shall be deductions from internally generated revenue (IGR),” governor’s request reads.

John Bonzena, the speaker of the assembly, said the budget was passed and the loan request approved to enable the governor to initiate projects that would bring about the long-awaited joy to the people.

The speaker expressed concern about the state’s financial challenge and emphasised that it would be harmful to the people if the members delay passing the supplementary budget.