Austin Ogwuda
6 January 2009
A member of the Asset Verification Committee in Edo State, Matthew Urhoghide, yesterday faulted the terms of an agreement between the Osunbor administration and one of the new generation banks, where the former administration borrowed the sum of N10billion for the execution of road projects in the state.
According to him, "There were certain things we saw on that loan that were very reckless of government officials who negotiated that loan".
For instance asking for an administrative charge of 1.5 per cent every month for that amount of money and of course government pays N80-100 million every month as duty charge on an account, not even the interest.
We felt too that there were sharp practices because government had actually paid hundreds of millions on monthly basis to the same bank.
"So we have told the bank that the negotiation was not properly done and that there will be re-negotiation of the loan. So it is not to say the amount of money that had been taken but all the other charges that are attendant to the loan, we have to re-negotiate. When the contractors was paid directly by the bank we needed to find out from the bank whether there was any internal mechanism of verifying that those jobs were done. And the banks agreed that they verified them and we said if you verified them, then in which case it must be that we have value for money".
"And that if we found out that there was no value for money then government will of course not pay the bank back and they agreed. That was why we went out to go and inspect the road projects".
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