A group, Redemption Integrity Group, has challenged the Plateau State Governor, Mr. Jonah Jang, on the plan of the state government to borrow N23bn from the stock market.

The group, made up mostly of former commissioners under Jang, expressed concern that the governor could be thinking of taking such a huge loan barely 60 days to the end of his administration.

Culled from The PUNCH

A group, Redemption Integrity Group, has challenged the Plateau State Governor, Mr. Jonah Jang, on the plan of the state government to borrow N23bn from the stock market.

The group, made up mostly of former commissioners under Jang, expressed concern that the governor could be thinking of taking such a huge loan barely 60 days to the end of his administration.

In a press statement entitled, “Why Plateau people will not vote President Goodluck Jonathan”, and signed by a former Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Nankin Bagudu, the group wondered why the President would facilitate such a loan for the state government.
Bagudu said, “The Redemption Integrity Group has viewed with concern that even at this stage, 60 days to the end of the Governor Jonah Jang administration, he has informed Plateau people he is bent on taking a loan of N23bn to further compound the precarious existing debt liability of the state.

“What we find rather disheartening is that we were reliably informed that the Jonathan administration is involved in facilitating the loans through bonds for PDP states.

“It is unimaginable that governors who are at the end of their second tenure will be allowed by the Jonathan administration to plunder their respective states before they leave office. The President is said to have directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to process these entire loans/bonds request to PDP states because they threatened him that his re-election depends on the bonds approval.”

The ex-commissioner was supported by his counterparts – Messrs. Joel Gwatau, former commissioner for sports; Nuhu Gagara, former information commissioner; Danny Ajik, tourism; Na’Allah Mutbam, agriculture and Benehel Andong, local government and chieftaincy affairs.
Others were a former member of the House of Representatives, Leo Dilkon and a retired security officer, Mr. Ishaku Ninfa.

But the state government, through the Executive Assistant to the Governor, Mr. Clinton Garuba, described the group as ignorant of what a bond meant.

In his reply entitled, “Why Plateau must vote for Jonathan”, Garuba said, “For the purpose of educating the Redemption Integrity Group and their ilk, the N23bn Bond from the Securities and Exchange Commission does not mean the Plateau State Government is taking a loan of N23bn as ignorantly portrayed by the group. The N23bn simply means the SEC buys off the debt owed by the state from commercial banks at a single digit interest rate of less than 10% as against the 22% charged by commercial banks with a longer repayment term.

“The implication of the above is that the banks will no longer deduct at source what the state government should pay it, thereby making more money available to execute more developmental projects in the state. In addition to the above, the term of repayment of the loans bought over by the SEC is longer than that of the commercial banks; hence the state would not be under undue pressure to pay as is the case with commercial banks.”

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Ex-Commissioners Challenge Jang Over N23 Billion Bonds, even as Clinton Garuba Counters