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.
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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.
“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”.