Abia Yet to Conclude Loan Deals with AfDB, IsDB, Says Finance Commissioner

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Abia State Government has said the loan deal with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Islamic Bank (IsDB) initiated by the immediate past administration has not been concluded.

The State Commissioner for Finance, Mike Akpara, made this known yesterday, at a news conference following claims that the administration of Governor Alex Otti has been drawing from the inherited loans.

The past government was in discussions with the AfDB for a $115 million loan and $125 million from the IsDB, but claimed that the loan deal had been sealed before they left office.

But Akpara said no loan was made ready for the present administration to spend, adding that the government was still processing the money, “because they were not concluded by the previous administration.”

“All of them (the loans) are still in the pipe line. None has dropped,” he said.

On the lingering issue of unpaid salaries of agencies and parastatals inherited by the present government, the Finance Commissioner assured the concerned workers that Otti was determined to clear N16.5 billion arrears.

But he urged the affected workers to exercise patience with the government as, “machinery has been set in motion to offset the salary arrears,” adding that the huge amount would not be paid in one fell swoop.

The affected agencies and parastatals are the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, with 33 months salary arrears; Abia State College of Education (Technical) Arochukwu, 22 months, and Abia State University Uturu, 11 months.

Others include workers of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba owed 21 months arrears; Abia State Universal Education Board (ASUBEB), State Secondary Education Board, and the Health Management Board(HMB) with varying months of unpaid salaries.

The finance commissioner said government decided to be paying arrears in instalments with the intention to clear everything on or before December 2024.

“We will pay. But it is going to be paid in batches,” Akpara insisted, adding that the Otti’s administration “believes that a worker deserves his wages.”

However, he warned workers in the affected agencies and parastatals to desist from mounting undue pressure and blackmailing the Otti administration over the salary arrears that were accumulated by the immediate past administration.

He explained that other sectors of the Abia economy would suffer should government pay the huge salary arrears at once, pointing out that, “it is not only salaries that this government is going to be paying,” and neglect development projects.

Akpara said government was not happy over the claims of the leadership of the academic union of ABSU that workers of the institution had not been paid their recent salaries.

He stated that ABSU staff have been paid their April and May salaries, adding that those yet to receive their salaries were either having issues with their bank account particulars or have not passed through the verification exercse.

According to the finance commissioner, 1,195 staff of ABSU have been verified and paid, 235 yet to be unverified and can’t be paid for now while 27 workers were “disabled” from payroll and 19 persons found to be in different payrolls of different institutions.

He said government was determined in its efforts to sanitise the state-owned tertiary institutions that receive subvention and generate internal revenues but could not pay salaries.

“The government of the day is out to change the narrative and do things right,” Akpara said, adding, “we also want to end the practice of generate and spend” in tertiary institutions.