The governorship candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) for the Edo State election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, says
Governor Godwin Obaseki has spent over 75billion naira on projects
that have all gone to waste.
Speaking at the governorship debate put together by Channels
Television and its partners on Sunday, Ize-Iyamu said the present
government has nothing to show for monies purportedly allocated to
various projects.
In his reaction to claims by Obaseki that the government of
Adams Oshiomhole left Edo State in so much debt before handing
over; Mr Ize-Iyamu said “It’s very worrisome, especially when there
is nothing to show for it“.
For Ize-Iyamu, “it is scandalous” that the incumbent governor is
attributing the huge debt owed by Edo State, to a predecessor in
whose government Obaseki served as a chief economic adviser.
“some times you seem to forget the role you played in the past
government,” the APC candidate told Obaseki.
Under Four Years We Created 157,000 Jobs – Gov Obaseki
Where Are The Jobs? Ize-Iyamu Challenges Obaseki On Job Creation
Claim
Ize-Iyamu went on to give examples of sectors and projects for
which ‘Obaseki has collected loans’, describing the figures as
“staggering”.
“Let me give you just an example, in the agricultural
sector, the loan that the governor has collected is
staggering.
“The failed Sobe Maize project, 2billion went down the
drain. The Agenebode rice project 5billion went down the drain and
then the oil palm project you have collected 69billion from the
Central Bank and the money has been shared with cronies, and no Edo
person has benefitted from that money and I can tell you that has
also gone down the drain.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
“So just from agriculture alone, I have named three areas
where over 75billion has been collected, not to talk about monies
you are collecting from the World Bank and the rest of
them.
“You came in at a time when you had so much windfall, Paris
Club, bailout funds, 75million C4 World Bank loan, all these monies
came in, what did you do with them? Where are the projects? Where
are the roads? Where are the hospitals?
“All the promises that you made remain unfulfilled,”
Ize-Iyamu stated.
He maintained that in the past four years, the economy of Edo
has been mismanaged and plundered, stressing that all the huge
amounts that we receive at the inception of this administration
have practically left the state without any serious project to show
for them.
According to the APC candidate, Obaseki had the opportunity to
diversify Edo State’s economy, but “the governor made a very lame
attempt and he failed completely and we are in a very sorry
state”.