Gov. Otu Disputes Taking Out More Loans
THE Governor's response comes in response to the concerning statistics that are available on the Debt Management Office's (DMO) website and spreadsheet.
Governor Otu questioned how the Debt Management Office arrived at N220.2 billion as the domestic debt profile of Cross River State as of December 2023, up from N204.04 billion stated for the state as of June 30th, 2023, through his Chief Press Secretary, Nsa Gill.
Subtracting N204 billion from N220.2 billion, the difference in the data is the supposed N16.2 billion reported as a new domestic loan purportedly acquired by the administration of Governor Bassey Otu. “This is not true.”
“There's no record in the annals of the State government that suggests that fresh borrowing was undertaken; since the inception of the present administration till date; both domestic and foreign debt.”
“We challenge any person, including the DMO, who has evidence of any fresh loan taken under the administration of Governor Bassey Otu to make that Public,” the Governor's Spokesman said.
He mentioned that obtaining legislative authorization is one of the procedures needed for fresh loans. “The governor has not signed nor taken in a fresh loan on behalf of the state.”
“Anyone in doubt of our position can make findings with the state legislature and even to the DMO,” the governor was also cited by him as saying. “After I brought up the issue with the DMO, they denied knowing of any new loans made during the present government.”
According to the Chief Press Secretary, Governor Otu objects to false claims of new borrowing and requests examination of the DMO's published statistics.
Furthermore, "It is also pertinent that the media and the general public understand that the dynamics of DMO debt profile spreadsheets includes the principal amount plus interest over time as well as other variables that may have been made available to the DMO; such as judgment debts, contract debts, garnishee orders, etc. in this case, Cross River State Government vehemently rebukes any interest calculation or any surreptitious calculation that portrays the government to have increased her domestic debt profile by borrowing N16.2billion within June 2023 to December 2023. And the taking Foreign debt amounting to $57.9million within the same period.
We would like to reaffirm that the administration of Senator Bassey Edet Otu, “People First,” has pledged to the good people of Cross River State that it will provide very responsible financial leadership and that it will not borrow money unless absolutely necessary and in compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007.
Furthermore, the state's commissioner of finance has been instructed by the governor to investigate the DMO regarding the data and make sure that accurate justifications are provided for any published figures that are inaccurate or inappropriate.
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