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| Credit: Itam Offor |
Despite the huge debt profile of Cross River State, the state house of assembly has granted approval for the state government to borrow N35b from United Bank for Africa (UBA) , Zenith Bank and First Bank of Nigeria for 'developmental projects'.
According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, the state's current debt profile as of 2019 stood at $192 million while domestic debt stood at N162 billion.
A breakdown of the loan facility shows that N15B (Fifteen Billion Naira) would be borrowed from UBA, N10B (Ten Billion Naira) from Zenith Bank and N10b from First Bank of Nigeria.
Presenting the report, the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation observed that "since the inception of the present administration in 2015, there was an expressed desire to industrialize the State and develop critical infrastructure.''
Hon. Sunday Achunekang, Member representing Obanliku and Chairman of the Appropriation Committee further observed that work in major roads and industries initiated by the Ayade administration have stopped due to the State's dwindling resources adding that "the prospect of the projects becoming abandoned is high if nothing is done".
According to Achunekang, "this request is, therefore, State Government's effort at sustaining the developmental projects particularly in the area of industrialization and provision of social infrastructure.''
Members in granting the approval sued for the even spread of the projects to cover the 25 constituencies of the State as well as the completion of projects earlier started by previous administrations to guarantee the impact of governance across the State.
In his response, the speaker, Rt. Hon. Eteng Williams expressed appreciation to the Committee for a thorough job and thanked the members for their robust contributions and directed that the Assembly's resolutions be forwarded to the Governor for implementation.
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