We Won’t Allow Abia Govt Fritter Away $56m World Bank Loan, APGA Vows

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State has defended its persistent calls for accountability in the management of the $56 million World Bank loan obtained by the state government to tackle the huge infrastructure deficit in the commercial city of Aba.

APGA said that it has become worrisome that none of the projects for which the loan was meant has been completed hence the need to put the government to task as election year and its attendant abandonment of projects and diversion of funds is just around the corner.

The opposition party expressed its concern in a statement issued by its leader, Hon. Obinna Ichita and made available to journalists in Umuahia, saying that every well-meaning Abian should be on guard to stop the government from wasting the loan.

“We are actively monitoring the World Bank projects in Aba South (state constituency), as well as the movement of funds for these projects, hence, we shall continue to apply pressure on the state government,” he stated.

Though the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu administration has maintained that the projects have not been abandoned and would be completed before the end of his tenure, the opposition leader argues that what is on ground suggests the opposite.

He said that while no road contract has ever been advertised for public tender, it smacks of “deceit and fraud” for the government to have claimed that it was spending N1 billion per kilometre of road in Aba which has good topography of flat non swampy land.

According to him, such bogus claims of public spending shrouded in secrecy “is not only questionable but also a clear demonstration of an exceptional level of insult on the collective intelligence of the people of Abia.”

Ichita, who represents Aba South state constituency in the Aba House of Assembly, said that he has been subjected to attacks, harassment and intimidation for asking the Ikpeazu administration to account for the $56 million World Bank loan meant for fixing Aba roads and drainages.

The lawmaker vowed that he would not be cowed by the state government, which has even gone to the extent of going to court to procure an injunction restraining the opposition lawmaker from criticising the government.

The fiery lawmaker explained that his reason for keeping the Abia government on its toes “is to ensure that World Bank projects in Aba South constituency do not suffer the fate of Faulks Road; a road that collapsed just a few months after construction.”

He also challenged the government to explain the “whereabouts of around 26 million US dollars that have been withdrawn for the purchase of a Tunnel Boring Machine, which has not been seen anywhere in Aba South” and that the government has already abandoned the idea of underground drainage system.