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Plateau APC carpets Assembly over approval of Gov Muftwang’s N15bn loan request

The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Plateau State has carpeted the State House of Assembly for its approval of a N15 billion loan as requested by Governor Caleb Muftwang, saying the reasons advanced for the loan are as unconvincing as they are not tenable.

Recall that the State House of Assembly on Thursday approved the request of Governor Caleb Muftwang for a loan of N15 billion to settle the backlog of salary arrears of the civil servants and for agricultural input for farmers.

In a statement signed by its State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Slyvanus Namang, the party said the two-thirds majority enjoyed by the Plateau State House of Assembly is obviously not a license for recklessness and arbitrariness, which if left unchecked would make Plateau State worse for more turbulent days ahead.

It pointed out that the state government simply wants to deceive the workforce, which has been on strike, into thinking that it cares for their welfare and the farming community in the state.

“The APC in Plateau State sees this as a facade and an attempt to pull the wool over the people’s eyes. The government, having failed to install Interim Administrators in the local governments to serve as conduits, decided to go for the N15 billion loan as an alternative to service its extrabudgetary commitments.

“Government is a continuum, and the past dispensation had made adequate budgetary provisions for payment of workers’ salaries and very essential products like fertilizer, given the fact that Plateau State is largely an agrarian state.”

The party posited that the N15 billion loan approval is particularly worrisome because for a loan to be collected, there are steps that need to be followed, as clearly spelled out in the Plateau State Debt Management Law, passed by the Plateau State House of Assembly and assented to by the Executive Governor, which must be duly and diligently followed before any financial institution, local or foreign, can consider it.

“If this same government is complaining of a huge debt profile of N200 billion on Plateau State after 24 years of three successive governments, which they have mischievously presented to the public as debts obtained by the immediate past administration, why are they quick to take another humongous loan?

“It is therefore suggested that due diligence be followed because the entire world is watching.”

The APC therefore enjoined Muftwang to be wary of certain characters he appointed as special advisers to oversee the affairs of critical institutions, such as the House of Assembly, which, apart from lacking capacity, would always only feed him toxic advice.

It also advised the three-week-old Plateau state government to embark on issues of immediate concern to the people of the state, including security, as people are being incessantly killed and displaced by wicked and heartless murderers.

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