Amaechi attacks Obuah over $280m loan

Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State has berated the  Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Chief Felix Obuah, over his comment on the $280 million loan from the World Bank and African Development Bank (ADB).
Obuah had criticised Governor Amaechi for writing to the state House of Assembly, seeking approval to obtain the loan for water and sanitation projects.
The PDP state chairman alleged that Amaechi would use the money to pursue his future political ambition and sponsor All Progressives Congress (APC).
Describing Obuah’s  statement as misleading and mischievous, the governor through the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said the government was not taking a fresh loan as alleged by the PDP.
According her, what the governor did was to re-present  the  letter to the House of Assembly, after the Federal Government’s final approval of the loan, which had been delayed by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Ibim explained: “The Rivers State Government applied for and secured a loan package from the African Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank in 2012, for the World Bank-assisted water scheme in Rivers State.
The rule is that, the national government would need to endorse the release of the loan, after the Rivers State House of Assembly would have approved. Everything else was done but for reasons unknown to the Rivers State Government, the responsible officers in the Ministry of Finance failed to sign off the release of funds, thereby delaying the Rivers State Government robust water sector’s complete overhaul and rejuvenation; therefore denying the people of the state access to good water.
“Not willing to give up, the Rivers State Government continued to push and the scheme with the loan was again approved in the 2014 budget. Now, the Federal Government has finally signed off for this fund to be drawn down for work to start, but due process required that the Rivers State House of Assembly endorse it once more. This is what necessitated the re-presentation of the old loan to the House.”