Akpabio seeks N80bn additional loan

Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio on Thursday wrote to the state House of Assembly, requesting an approval of  additional N80bn loan for use by the government.

The request came barely two months after he sought and got an approval for N50bn loan.

In the latest letter to the Assembly and read by the  Assembly Clerk, Mrs. Mandu Umoren, on Thursday, the governor said the loan would enable the state to offset a loan it collected from United Bank for Africa Plc last year.

He said, 'I hereby request for your speedy consideration and approval of the state House of my request to borrow the sum of $500m (about N80bn) from Standard Chartered Bank International.

'The proceeds of this loan facility will be utilised to offset all outstanding loan commitment of the State Government to UBA Plc.

'This will drastically reduce the applicable interest that government would have paid on the facility from UBA Plc which runs into billions of naira.'

He stated that the loan from UBA Plc attracted interest rate of 18.5 per cent, while that of Standard Chartered Bank International was 8.19 per cent.

A source in the Assembly, who craved anonymity, said the letter seeking an approval for an additional loan had divided the lawmakers, especially as 'the state government collects over N30bn monthly allocation from the Federation Account'.

He said, 'The former loan of N50bn the governor collected in February has yet to be accounted for.'