‘We borrowed reasonably to finance projects’ — Okowa denies taking N850bn loan

Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta, says since he took office in 2015, his administration has borrowed reasonably to finance projects.

Okowa spoke at a press conference in Asaba on Monday.

The governor also dismissed allegations that his government borrowed N850 billion.

He said his administration had only requested a bridging-finance facility of N150 billion from a consortium of banks — with the approval of the house of assembly — to address the N217 billion owed to the state by the federal government.

Okowa explained that the requested amount was later reduced to N100 billion, with proper recourse to the house of assembly.

He added that the government had received N91 billion of the requested sum, which had been put to use.

“The rumour that we have borrowed N850 billion was a lie from the pit of hell. It is unfair for anybody trying to be the governor of the state to deceive the people. We have structured our finances with superior thinking. When we borrowed money, we borrowed reasonably to finance our projects,” he said.

“We have constructed over 2,000 kilometres of roads in the state. We have constructed a lot of bridges and we are still constructing more. We are still working on the bridge on the Beneku River, the Orherhe Bridge project and others. We have revoked Ayakromo Bridge project and re-awarded it to a more competent contractor.”