Sen Umaru questions Gov Bello’s N21.5bn Sukuk bond quest

The senator representing Niger East, Barrister David Umaru has condemned move by the state government to access N21.5 billion Sukuk bond and other loan facilities for infrastructural development across the state, describing the gesture as a calculated attempt to further impoverish Niger State people.

The state executive council had within the last three weeks separately approved proposals to access three loans which include N21.5 Sukuk bond; $266 million from Islamic Development Bank and $330 million from Kuwait Fund for Arab Development for infrastructural development.

However in a press briefing on the matter yesterday in Minna, Senator Umaru said he was constrained to oppose the desirability of the loans because of the devastating effects the burden of such debts would have on the state and its people.

“It is obvious that the administration is badly obsessed with accessing loan facilities in the pretence of infrastructural development while it consistently failed to account for the billions of naira accrued from statutory allocation to the state, including other huge financial interventions from the federal government,” he said.

He said having been unable to recover from the comatose condition imposed by previous administration of former Governor Muazu Babaginda Aliyu with an outstanding of N8.2 billion still hanging and with ‘nothing tangible on ground to show for it,’ the current administration should not opt to thread the same path.