Barrister Charity Iguodala Aiguobarueghian, the assistant legal adviser to the All Progressive Congress Edo state chapter has reacted to the recently accessed $75 million loan granted the state government by the World Bank.
The legal adviser in an exclusive interview with Naij.com said Edo state is in dire need of assistance in terms of infrastructure.
The legal adviser made the assertion when asked if Edo state deserved the loan considering the fact that Oshiomhole’s tenure will be ending in few months time, precisely 2016.
Barrister Charity Iguodala Aiguobarueghian, assistant legal adviser to the All Progressive Congress Edo state chapter
He said the government of Adams Oshiomhole has recorded so much success in trying to reconstruct the state, noting that he used the word “reconstruct the state” because of the decay that was attendant after the long drawn years of bad governance by the PDP-led government in the state.
Mr Aiguobarueghian said there was nothing palliative that was executed under the PDP- led government, noting that the level of decay was alarming; hence the state’s government needed to do something pragmatic to push the infrastructural development forward which is what, has been done.
“I want to also comment that there is a lot of misconception concerning this loan. The hype that is given to it now, is what I have often told people. I beg to use the word; ‘bad belle of the PDP people.’ The fact is that they are really very afraid of the achievement that this government has made, so much so that they are almost becoming extinct in Edo state. By the grant of this loan, it will mean a further consolidation on the gains that the state’s government has achieved over the years, and if that is the position, it means that they will be completely out of the business of government in the state in the very foreseeable future. They are now crying at the top of their voice to ensure that the government does not get it because if that is given, it will now lead to daring their prospect in getting to the Osadebe Avenue; I mean the Government House in Edo State,” he said.
The legal adviser, who is based in Benin, further explained that the World Bank had since granted the $225 million loan which was in three tranches, nothing that the first tranche was given and it was used to the satisfaction of the World Bank. He said when a credible body like the World Bank grants you a loan; it also looks at the workability of the loan, it also looks at how you are performing the loan.
“The fact is that this amount of money we are talking about; this $225 million was not an Oshiomhole’s assessment, it was not even the ministry of finance assessment or the ministry of works in Edo state. It was an assessment of the World Bank experts. They came, they supervised some infrastructural challenges in the state and they assessed it at $225 million, then in their wisdom, to make sure that; the money is not diverted or used wrongly, they now compartmentalise the money into three sectors. First tranche, they were satisfied at the performance of this one including the pay back plan because it is a loan, even though it is almost interest free, it is still a loan that we have to pay back, and it is from the day of giving you the first tranche that the payback schedule is launched so that if the Edo state government had not been faithful in returning what part of it that the world bank had designated for this period since 2006; they would not of course approve this second tranche. Again if they had not done faithfully the project that the money was meant for, they would not have approved the second tranche,”Aiguobarueghian said.
President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier stated in his letter to the Senate that the proposed loan facility would be a second leg of a Development Policy Programme approved by the World Bank in 2012 to the Edo state government for implementation in three tranches of $75 million per annum.
The $75 million World Bank loan which was recently approved by the Senate for Edo state government reportedly sparked reactions among well-meaning Nigerians, especially the political bigwigs in the opposition in the state.
The development went as far as causing controversy at the hallowed chambers of the Senate as it was reported on Thursday, August 6, that Senators from Edo state disagreed on the proposed World Bank loan for the state, although Governor Oshiomhole had explained that his government was forced to secure a loan of $75 million from the World Bank because of former president, Goodluck Jonathan’s looting.
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