C'River: Account For Over N200bn Accrued To State In 14 Months, PDP Tells Gov. Otu
... Allegation baseless, Info Commissioner
By Ndifereke BASSEY
The Cross River State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called on Governor Bassey Otu- led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration to account for the sum of N251 billion that have accrued to state in the last 14 months.
The PDP alleged that while N150 billion have been collected from Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), the sum of N70 billion have been collected as NG-CARES and palliative and intervention funds.
In a statement by the Publicity Secretary, Mr Mike Ojisi, and made available to THE BEAGLE NEWS in Calabar on Friday, the party accused the Governor of not being transparent in management of the state's resources.
The statement read in part: "Governor Otu, in line with his much touted "People's First" mantra, would have the needed decency and humane disposition to manage resources and allocations accrued to the state optimally.
"It is, therefore, exasperating waking up daily to the kleptocratic, mindless and fraudulent schemes by the administration, aimed primarily at asphyxiating the State and enriching few of his and immediate family members, at the detriment of the good people of Cross River State.
"Despite receiving over N31 billion of NG-CARES between December 2023 and June 2024, Governor Otu has failed to account for the funds or provide tangible results.
"It is on record that Otu's administration claim that 1,700 persons have benefited from the fund.
"Assuming without conceding that this is true, it therefore raises concern about the utilization of the fund and how much was received by each of the beneficiaries," he stated.
Ojisi described the 2024 budget of the state as vague and will not ameliorate the plight of the people, saying "rather than judiciously allocate these monies to programs and projects that are people-oriented and can ameliorate the plight of the people; Governor Otu's Budget for 2024 includes questionable allocations.
"Governor should at least, have the decency to live up to his own "People's First" mantra as the lack of transparency and accountability in his Government is humongously alarming.
"We call on Cross Riverians, Anti-graft Agencies, traditional rulers, religious leaders and stakeholders to beam their searchlight on the government and demand for the true dividends of democracy."
On local government funds, Ojisi decried the poor infrastructures and slow pace of governance at the grassroots even as the state got a the sum of N5.63Billion for the July 2024 FAAC allocation for the 18 Local Government Areas in Cross River state.
"Assuming that the allocation is equitably divided, each LGA would receive about #312.777million, which could significantly impact on the development we are desperately yearning for in the State," he stated.
Reacting, Dr Erasmus Ekpang, Commissioner for Information, said the opposition party should have been thorough in their findings before coming out to lay "baseless" allegations and advised the PDP to join the governor to develop the state.
According to Ekpang, Otu led administration has kept faith with the people by ensuring visible developmental projects across the 18 council areas of Cross River.
He said: "It is only the blind that won't see the good work Sen. Bassey Otu is doing and the PDP should be mindful of the fact that these work takes money to execute.
"Otu has ensured transparency and accountability that the Executives Council Meeting deliberations are made public.
"The PDP must know that we have had enough distraction from them when they dragged us from the tribunal upto the Supreme court.
"Rather than distracting us now, they should distract themselves by planning ahead the 2027 poll."
