CBN loan can’t be diverted – Bayelsa Commissioner

Sequel to controversies that had trailed the approved N17 billion loans by the Bayelsa state House of Assembly, the state government has said that, CBN loan is not money that can divert for any other purpose.

The commissioner for Information and Orientation, Hon. Ayibanua Duba, who spoke in Yenagoa, said the loans are in three components, its tied to a specific project which is Agriculture.
It will be recalled that, the Bayelsa state House of Assembly had on Wednesday 11th November approved N17 billion for the state government.

Duba maintained that while N10 billion is for Agriculture loan by the central bank of Nigeria, to revamp the Bayelsa palm and also to take care of small and medium scale enterprises, the N4 billion is the counterpart funding for the Sustainable Development Goals and the third component being the N3 billion to bridge the gap of the shortfall from the Federation Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) to enable the government meet its obligations.

People are just talking about the N17 billion loans without knowing what it is for and what the loans is. Federal government has created those funds for states to access, not for any other thing but for Agriculture.

“And as a government we look at it and we say this prosperity government is hinged on agriculture and Small and Medium scale industry. If the federal government through the CBN has made this facility available, why don’t we then go for it? The N10 billion is for our Bayelsa Palm”

He said since the COVID-19 started in the country, the monthly money from federation allocation account committee has been dropping every now and then and government commitment are to be meant hence we go for the three billion naira to bridge the gap.

“Instead of going around to take temporary overdraft anytime their is shortfalls, we decided to go for a standby revolving loans of three billion naira so that anytime there is shortfalls you don’t go negotiating with reoccurring terms and if a commercial bank is ready to give us instead of taking overdraft why can’t we go for it,” he added.