….kicks against attack on governor

By Jeff Agbodo 

A group known as Unwuekumenyi United Youths Forum has said that Governor Francis Nwifuru has not borrowed either domestic or foreign loans to fund any project since inception.

The group said that the governor from inception of his administration vowed to strategically address the needs of Ebonyi people by strictly adhering to the documented People’s Charter of Needs encompassing all sectors of the state economy. 

The President of the group Prince Uche Ali Ega  while briefing newsmen on the attack by Moses Idika, the head of media of the 2023 governorship candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Chukwuma Odii on Governor Nwifuru’s administration accusing him of borrowing loans to fund projects including upgraded airport runway.

“In doing that,  Governor Nwifuru covenanted never to take any domestic or foreign  loans. His administration has unwaveringly kept to that now. There’s no record anywhere of the present administration contracting any loan arrangement to enable it to deliver quality governance to the people. Yet, from available records, the state has continued to advance in leaps across sectors.

“It is on record that at March 31, 2024, governor Nwifuru had already cut the state”s domestic debt down from N76.14 billion to N70.44 billion, down by N6.30 billion. Going by that, it is obvious that as it stands today, thee domestic debt profile of the state has gone far below what PDP quoted.

“Ebonyi State was among the 17 states that borrowed $125.1m (N112.24 billion) from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. These erroneously documented record has already cast doubt on the authenticity of the statistics quoted by the PDP.

“As it stands, Ebonyi State is still the least in both domestic and foreign debts among the South East states.

“For a government less than 2 years which has empowered so many citizens , constructed so many roads, given many citizens foreign and domestic scholarships, building two universitie, revived hitherto dead state health facilities into full operation, offered civil and public servants and other citizen free medical services through a functional health insurance, among other benefits cannot be clueless government but envy and jealous of Nwifuru’s administration” the group stated.