A civil society group, the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, on Wednesday faulted Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, for his request to convert debts owed by the state to Federal Government bonds, describing such practice as amounting to failure of governance in the state.
Emmanuel had, in a letter to the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly on Tuesday, requested an approval to convert debts owed and obtained from commercial banks in the country by the former Governor Godswill Akpabio’s administration to Federal Government’s bond.
The group, in a statement by the Convener, COHRD, Inibehe Effiong, said the development “is another incontrovertible evidence of the gross failure of governance in Akwa Ibom State and the shameful, scandalous and criminal waste of public funds by the erstwhile administration.”
COHRD added, “For us, this is a tacit admission by Mr. Udom Emmanuel that indeed the state is in financial crisis and comatose. The proposal, which seeks to convert and restructure the bad loans to bond with the assistance of the Debt Management Office, will have a tenor of between 15 to 20 years.
“The implication is that for the period, the state will have the responsibility of servicing the bond, which will be a huge burden on the next generation.”
It was gathered that the governor, in the letter, said the arrangement centred on restructuring commercial bank loans into Federal Government’s bond as a measure to restore fiscal stability to the state.
Emmanuel hinted that the National Economic Council meeting, held on June this year, made it possible for the state to take advantage of the initiative in partnership with the DMO and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
COHRD, however, faulted the governor for refusing to disclose the debt profile of the state.
“Regrettably, Mr. Udom Emmanuel did not state in his letter the exact amount of money owed commercial banks in the country by the state government. This, we believe, is willful and deliberate. It is a continuation of the culture of running government without any modicum of regard to the dictates of transparency, accountability and good governance,” the group added.
The group urged the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to consider requests by state governments to convert their loans to Federal Government bonds on individual merit with due regards to whether such loans were properly utilised by the affected states in consonance with the accountability mantra of the government.
It expressed concern with the seeming failure of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate petitions and allegation of embezzlement of funds levelled against the former administration.
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