Kogi elders reject Wada’s proposed N20bn bond

Some elders under the aegis of Kogi State Elders Forum have warned the state government against its efforts to secure a N20bn from a consortium of four Nigerian banks.

In a communiqué released on Sunday in Abuja after a meeting of some stakeholders across the state, the elders said Governor Idris Wada’s administration lacked the “capacity and integrity to judiciously utilise such fund.”

They said the quest for the bond tagged, ‘Development Bond’ by the government was unjustifiable as the Wada administration’s performance in office was not commensurate with the resources at his disposal.

The communiqué was jointly signed by Senator Alex Kadir, a former acting governor of the state, Clarence Olafemi, a former PDP Chairman, John Odawun, Air Vice Marshall Salihu Atawodi (retd) and Dr. Adinoyi Onukaba.

The communiqué reads in part, “Ordinarily, if the performance of the present administration were anything to go by (in terms of) identifiable physical infrastructure, some of us would not have raised any concern about the N20bn bond.

“But we are worried that a government with a track record of profligacy, ineptitude and visionlessness, the N20bn will go down the drain again without noticeable and meaningful development in the state.  Kogi State under Wada’s watch has become sadly a failed state.”

The elders challenged the Wada administration to tell the people of the state what it had done with the N3bn monthly revenue from the Federation Account and the over N1.5bn accruable to the local government councils in the last two years.

They stated, “We are talking about a total of N108bn accruable to the state in two years and there is absolutely nothing to show for it.”