Transition report: Committee seeks probe into N410bn Edo debts
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Transition Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo has recommended a probe into more than N410 billion local and foreign debts allegedly owed by the state.
The committee made the recommendation on Monday in its report presented to the governor-elect, Sen. Monday Okpebholo ahead of his inauguration on Tuesday as the fifth democratically elected governor of the state.
Presenting the document, Dr Pius Odubu, who is the Chairman of the committee, said the committee was presented with N410 billion debts as against the N55 billion inherited by the outgoing government in 2016.
“For those of you who have the capability to fact-check, you will find out that the indebtedness today is much more. It is over N500billion,”he said.
Odubu, who is an erstwhile deputy governor in the state, said the committee also recommended a review of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on the management of Central and Stella Obasanjo hospitals.
“All employment carried out in the recent past should be cancelled, while the governor should investigate the true ownership of the Ossiomo power plant and Raddisson Blu Hotel.
“The same with Museum of West Africa Arts-MOWAA. We deserve to know the state’s equity in these companies as the outgoing government went blank on these enquiries.
“We also demanded a comprehensive review of the world bank funded EdoBest programme and a probe should be instituted to uncover its rather opaque operations.
“All major contracts issued by the state government under the Ministry of Roads and Bridges should be reviewed as they appear not to have followed due process, including the payment advance awarded to the contractors.
“The procurement agency indicted the government in its own report to the Transition Committee; hence we have advised the incoming Governor to take a critical review,”he said.
The committee chairman also called for the streamlining of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ecosystem in the state, which he said appeared to be a duplication of duties.
“The outgoing government didn’t provide audited financial statements published or unpublished, hence the committee is advising government to institute an enquiry into this.
“The government couldn’t account for the number of teachers in the state; hence we demand a proper teacher headcount,”Odubu said.
The committee chairman said the document, made up of 24 page report and 800 annexures, was a product of three weeks of rigorous assignments, meetings, interactions, engagements and analyses of the documents presented to the committee.
“We are proud to present to Your Excellency, our report based on our findings after a careful examination and analyses of the official documents received from the outgoing government transition team.
“Your Excellency, it will interest you to know that the report being presented to you this afternoon was derived from our collective inputs during the several sessions we had as a team.
“We did not just carefully examine the five thematic pillars as presented by the government’s transition team, we took time to look at other information available to the committee through our interactions with relevant stakeholders in the state.
Responding, the governor-elect commended the committee members for doing a thorough job, saying the document would help the incoming government.
I’m not jealous, your economic policies not working, killing Nigerians, Atiku replies Tinubu
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Monday said President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies and approach to governance are killing Nigerians.
Atiku was the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election.
Atiku who stated this in a statement urged Tinubu to focus on his policies rather than attacking the opposition that is not in the saddle.
Atiku in the statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in reaction to an ” inelegant and insipid statement by the Presidency on Sunday.”
Tinubu’s Spokesman, Bayo Onanuga had accused Atiku of being jealous since he lost the 2023 presidential election.
Responding through Phrank Shaibu, Atiku dismissed such a remark saying, “Atiku, jealous of Tinubu inflicting pain on Nigerians? Hell no, wickedness is an exclusive preserve of T-Pain.
“On July 8, 2024, Tinubu announced that import duty on essential goods like food would be lifted for 150 days.
“But over 120 days later, the policy is yet to take off, while Nigerians continue to die daily due to increasing costs, including food inflation, which now exceeds 40%, the highest in decades.
“The brazen disobedience to a government policy by Tinubu’s appointees and the failure of the finance ministry to issue a gazette after over four months reflects the fatuousness, inanity and incompetence that characterizes the Tinubu administration.
“Sadly, rather than focus on governance, they are preoccupied with verbally assaulting their opponents – Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi – while using compromised courts to foster crisis in the opposition. What a shame!”
Atiku argued that Tinubu’s abysmal performance in the last 18 months had made it clear to all Nigerians that he came into office unprepared, hence the many policy flip-flops that have so far characterised his tenure.
He added : “Tinubu was obviously unprepared for office.
“He acts first and thinks of the consequences afterwards.
“This was why he announced an abrupt removal of petrol subsidy without any cushions.
“After seeing the effect, he then hurriedly decided to push a CNG initiative, which even he and his ministers have not embraced, hence their refusal to use it.
“The CNG initiative has so far failed to fully kick-off because of a lack of gas infrastructure in most states.
“The result is that transport costs continue to soar along with prices of food.
“In his mid-term expenditure framework, he projected an exchange rate of N700/$1 in 2024 and N650/$1 by 2025.
“Rather than sack his economic advisers, he continues to live in a fool’s paradise, deceiving Nigerians about the FX reserve of $40bn when, in fact, the net reserves are less than 20% of that.
“Let the CBN release its financial statements of 2023 if he is sure of his achievements.”
