Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has disclosed that his administration had so far borrowed only N10 billion from financial institutions.
The Governor who was reacting to insinuations that his administration was piling debts in the state, spoke Friday in Gboko.
He explained that “even the N5.5 billion approved by the State House of Assembly for counterpart funding with development partners is yet to be accessed though it may be available in the next few days.
“When accessed, the sum of N3.2 billion out of that amount would be matched with the same figure provided by the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, for infrastructure in primary schools while the rest would be committed to projects by other development partners in various sectors.”
The Governor stated further that the N10billion loan was used for the payment of salaries for two months, release of funds for take off of government, and accreditation of College of Health Sciences of the Benue State University, Makurdi.
He said his administration was also committed to ongoing renovation at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Makurdi, for reaccreditation as well as provision of laboratories at the College of Agriculture Yandev and Agriculture Training Centres at Mbatie and Otobi.
According to him, the yet to be accessed N28 billion loan facility Central Bank of Nigeria was a bailout arrangement for 24 states including Benue, which were owing salary arrears adding that it was to be obtained at a single digit interest rate while repayment was spread over 20 years.
He assured the people of the state that he would be transparent and judicious in the use of public funds and reiterated his commitment to zero tolerance for corruption.
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