No going back on proposed N23bn bond- Gov Ahmed

Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, yesterday said there is no going back on the proposed N23billion bond to be procured from the capital market.

Ahmed told National Pilot on Sunday through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, that the government is committed to the bond which is meant to address the state’s infrastructural needs.

Recall that last year, the government upon redeeming the N17bn bond it obtained in 2009, moved to obtain fresh N23bn from the capital market, a move that is yet to see the light of the day.

According to Ahmed’s former Senior Special Assistant on Investment, Mr Yomi Ogunsola, the proposed bond would be expended on the completion of the Ilorin metropolis water reticulation project; renovation of 120 schools across the state; renovation of the indoor sports hall at the state stadium complex in Ilorin as well as the additional work at the Kwara Diagnostic Centre.

The proposed new facility, when obtained, would also be judiciously utilised and serviced by the state government in line with established tradition, Ogunsola was quoted to have said.

However, the immediate past state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Prince Tunji Moronfoye, before dissolution of the governor’s first term cabinet, fingered the then PDP-led federal government for blocking the bond access.

Moronfoye said: “We have tried to access N23 billion bond and it was refused by the federal government. We also attempted to access normal loans from the banks, they were also blocked by the Federal Ministry of Finance. Instruction has been given that we should not be given money. The unfortunate thing about it is that they are stopping the banks from doing business. Kwara State is economically and financially viable. We have paid the last bit of the former bond, which is the N17 billion Dr. Bukola Saraki took when he was governor.”

While speaking yesterday to our reporter in a telephone conversation, Akorede expressed optimism that the government would go to bond market “after necessary structures have been put in place.”

“There is no delay. The government tried to access it, but there was a directive to stop lending money to the states. Now, the governor has just come back having met with some relevant officials last week. So, before the end of the year, we will go to the market,” the governor’s media aide, explained.

Asked whether the government is committed to the bond, he said: “By the grace of God, we will raise the money, but some structures have to be put in place. Once the structures are in place, then we can go to the bond market. Yes, we are committed to it''.

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