TheCable

Abia state government says Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has approved a loan of $125 million to finance some of the capital projects in the state.

Alex Otti, governor of Abia, made this known on Monday during the monthly media parley in Umuahia.

He also said the African Development Bank (AfDB)  approved another loan for the state.

Otti said although approvals are in place, the loans have not yet been drawn.

The governor added that the next line of action would be for the documentation to be perfected, the loan agreement signed and conditions to be met.

He said the government had received offers of loans from commercial banks in the country, but was yet to draw from any of them.

“Of course, we are also financially enlightened as a government that we do not need to draw loans until we need them,” Otti said.

“Any time we have liquidity we will repay so that we don’t continue to accumulate interest.”

Speaking further, Otti, a member of the Labour Party, denied a recent allegation made by a major opposition party, accusing the government of securing N1.5 billion loan, saying “they were lies”.

The governor said the state government had just approved bursary awards for all students of Abia origin in different Law schools in the country.

He said the bursary awards were prior to requests by the students.

Otti also said his government has started setting up a new scholarship board to help hard-working indigent students access quality education.

He said his administration was also considering giving wage awards to the state civil servants to help cushion the effect of the prevailing hardship in the country.

Reacting to complaints by some workers who have not received their salary for some months, he said payment has been prompt for the majority.

According to Otti, “maybe, about five percent of the people are the ones complaining”.

Otti, who also expressed worry about the over-bloated civil service, said there were close to 66,000 people on the payroll of the state and local governments.

He said the number was initially more than that, but was reduced after a verification exercise was done in the state.

Otti said the state will keep improving, try to sanitise the system and work hard to ensure workers’ welfare is prioritised.