By Tom Moses

UYO—Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has denied allegations that the state was in debt to the tune of N600 billion.
The governor explained that although the state had borrowed over N80 billion due to the dwindling economic fortunes to execute some star projects, N30 billion had been resettled with the possibility of further reducing the debt profile to N45 billion in the next two months.

Akpabio, who made the explanation, yesterday, during an interview with journalists in Uyo, described the incessant peddling of falsehood by a section of the media as the stock in trade of the opposition who, he said, were bent on deceiving the people in order to grab political power.

He urged those who genuinely need information on the state’s finances to explore the Freedom of Information Bill signed into law recently by President Goodluck Jonathan by  approaching the state Ministry of Finance for details rather than fabricate  lies in the social media.

He said: “When we realised that the economy was going down in 2013, we decided to go for the first loan and all we have borrowed as a state amounts to N80 billion. So far, we have paid back over N30 billion.

“We can’t allow their falsehood and propaganda on the social media to bother us because it is all politics and at the end of the day, God’s will will still be done in our state.”

He noted that every money received by his administration as loan received the approval of the state House of Assembly.

“I have not taken any loan without the approval of the state House of Assembly because you must convince the lawmakers on why you need to take the loan and of course, show them the capacity to pay back and the banks cannot give you the facility when they are not sure that you can pay back,” he added.

He noted that the debt profile of the state was minimal considering the quantum of eyebrow developmental projects that dot the landscape of Akwa Ibom, including the independent power plant that is currently generating 110MW to the national grid, the Ibom International Stadium, the specialist hospital, the four fly-overs and high-calibre hotels.