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| Governor Obiano |
(Excerpts
from the End of the Year Report of the Civil Liberties organization( CLO)
Anambra State Branch)
At the thick of the campaigns to the
Anambra 2013 governorship elections that brought in Chief Willie Obiano and Dr.
Nkem Okeke as governor and deputy governor respectively, one of the qualities
which Obiano’s ‘marketers’ brandished
to sway the electorates to vote for him was his track record of financial
probity and expertise.
The ‘marketers’ told us that the
state finance will be safe, sound , healthy and will blossom under the Aguleri
born Chief since he retired as an executive director in a commercial bank while
he had also served as a chartered auditor with a multinational oil firm.
But like the Igbo proverbial bitter
kola which they say doesn’t taste as it sounds while it is being chewed,
Obiano’s governance in the last 22 months in Anambra has shown that theory in
most cases can be far from practical.
Inheriting a state that was free
from the burdening issues of backlog of owed salaries, pension and gratuities
as well as any financial strangulating encumbrances, Obiano felt that he needed
to show Anambrarians that the state is rich and governance cannot continue in
the style of his predecessor whom those who misconstrued his governance style
then described as araldite and aka gum.
That was how ostentatious living started
in full bloom in Anambra, with lavish parties, guzzling of costly champagnes,
renovation of government house and governor’s lodge with outrageous amounts
among others.
While the economic meltdown and
dwindling of oil revenue resulting in sharp drop in the monthly allocation to
states hit many states like thunderbolt resulting in austerity measures and
alternative sources of revenue, Governor Obiano in order to maintain the tempo
as a ‘chopping governor’ also announced a slight increment in the salaries of
civil servants.
Number of political appointments
continued to swell that sources close to the seat of power told the CLO in
confidence that appointment letters for SAs, SSAs and other aides with reckless
duplicity of functions became a daily affair often done at the spur of the
moment to massage some ego and also to excite a particular host or guest.
When the reality dawned that the
treasury has become virtually empty while capital projects have been stalled
with many contractors being owed billions of naira, the next option was to go
and borrow.
In seeking avenues to justify the
borrowing amidst the public perception that ex governor Obi left the state in a
healthy financial status with investments and cash, the next move was to
address the press to puncture Obi’s hand over notes.
Another large chunk of the cash from
the state’s depleting resources was allegedly voted and expended for image
laundering and handling the media backlash that trailed the government’s
infantile act of denouncing a hand over note after almost two years.
Before the buzz could die down, the
governor proved right some analysts who had already disclosed that the hoopla
over Obi’s handover note after almost two years of his leaving office was to
find an excuse to start borrowing.
Governor Obiano eventually
sent a request to the House of Assembly for the approval of a N10 billion
facility loan with some asphyxiating conditions which the people of the state
will suffer the consequences in due time.
Findings from the document obtained
by the CLO on the conditions attached to the loan facility revealed that the
loan has a 9.0% interest rate with a tenor of 20 years or 240 months.
The indicative amortization schedule
in the loan facility shows that the accruing interest for the first year is
N900, 000,000 while the 20th year will be N90, 451,218 with a
monthly payment of N89, 972.596.
The implication is that the state
will cough out N21, 909,295.002 as repayment pattern within the 20 year period
with a total interest charge of N11, 909,295.002.
This is a serious yoke and chain to
the incoming administrations in the future when the present governor might have
concluded his tenure and left office.
Juxtaposed with the total cash value
of local investments of N27.2 billion and total cash value of
foreign currency bond investments of $155.48 million (N26.5 billion done
by the immediate past governor , Mr. Peter Obi, which have yielded close to
N95.18 billion (as at November 2015 with total cash left in MDA accounts) one
could decipher that a former governor while in office was investing to
consolidate the state on a sound economic footing while a sitting governor is
fast trying to subject the state into perpetual bondage and financial
hemorrhage.
As if the situation is not
frightening enough, there have been recent feelers though yet to be confirmed
that another negotiation for a fresh loan is already in the offing while one
was sealed and delivered recently.
The way out of dwindling economic
fortunes for states lies not in borrowing but in cutting of one’s coat
according to one’s size. Reduction in the size of over bloated aides,
applying the age long economic principles of Scale of Preference and
Opportunity Cost and thinking inwards for avenues to generate income are some
of the necessary steps needed to save the step from financial indebtedness.
The implication of the present
scenario in Anambra is that if the trend of borrowing is sustained in the
state, there will come a time when all the treasury bills of the state will be
tied on Irrevocable Standing Orders (ISO) bringing a situation where the
state’s financial obligations to lenders will be deducted at source leading to
owing of salaries, contractual financing and other fiscal commitments.
Efforts must be geared by all and sundry
to rescue the state from the path of economic doldrums and the years of the
locusts.
The light of the nation state must
maintain its path to greatness and fiscal buoyancy and no force, action or
inaction should tamper with this goal. We say no to further borrowing in
Anambra.
Signed
Comrade
Aloysius Emeka Attah
Chairman,
Anambra State Branch , 08035090548, attahcomrade@yahoo.com
Comrade
Chibueze Nwajiaku
Sec.
Anambra State Branch
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