Peter Obi & Willie Obiano |
To some people, the social
media today is a thriving platform for a flourishing trade in inanity.
Ironically, the platform is easily where a fair number of unreflective people are
effectively held captive with enthralling junks, which explains why the talk of
a N75 billion cash in hand-over has become a worrisome matter in the minds of
Anambra people despite Governor Obiano’s excellent 18 months in office.
Obviously frustrated by the silence of Government, we were told that the
merchants of the N75 billion tale devilishly went underground, seeking the
false enticement of respectable affinity groups through the Bishops and
Traditional Rulers. We heard that the hand that bears the beguiling papers is
the hand of Esau; but the voice in the social media is Jacob’s.
To disabuse the minds of
the citizens who the Governor ordinarily holds dear, the Principal Officers of
the state, led by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Solo Chukwulobelu, addressed the press on Saturday,
November 14, 2015 at the Conference Hall of his office at the Government House
Complex in Awka. In somewhat pedagogic deliberateness, the SSG went through a
six-page verbatim extract from ex-Governor Peter Obi’s Handover Note.
At the end of the press
conference, the items that made up the N75 billion were laid bare. The headline
item was a N9 billion involuntary investment charged on Anambra State from the
Federation Account to fund Nigeria’s Independent Power Projects. This is a
non-tradable equity in a long-term investment. The subsequent 12 items on the
extract are similar long-term investments, each in differing level of
completion like the state’s equity investments in Orient Petroleum Resources;
investments in Onitsha and Agulu Lake Hotels as well as in the three Shopping
Malls in Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi; the State’s equity investment in Intafact
Beverages Limited, the brewers of Hero Lager and investments in the two Onitsha
Business Parks. The last item in the row of long-term investments is a N750
million Anambra State’s share in the old Eastern Nigeria’s First Republic
investment in Emenite Limited, a manufacturer of fibre cement roofing and
ceiling products.
In all, the long-term,
non-earning assets in the fairy N75 billion sums to N22.73 billion or 30 per
cent. It is analytic to reason that seven out of the 13 long-term assets are
uncompleted yet; they therefore cannot begin to earn cash until they are
completed, off-taken, let or attain critical mass as should in the case of
Orient Petroleum.
Included also is a N350
million investment in quoted stocks. This, no question, is tradable, which
means that the investment can be sold and realised into cash. The stock is
worth currently about N200 million following falls in the value of shares. The
number 15 item on the Hand-over extract is a N1.5 billion computation of the
state’s share of the Excess Crude Account contributed as capital to the
Nigerian Sovereign Investment Fund in 2010. At best, this can be regarded as a
State Reserve Fund, a kind of saving for the rainy day. It is not releasable
yet into cash. Items 16 to 19 in the Hand-over extract, amounting to N2.48
billion are the state’s counterpart funds or contributions to Funds held by
federal financial institutions. These institutions administer the contributions
as soft lending for small-scale businesses, agriculture and small industries in
the State. Having been contributed, the cash is not available to the state any
more. For reason that will be obvious shortly, let us skip item 20 and treat
item number 21 which is a N10 billion spent by the state on federal roads
across the state and had been verified for refund by the Federal Government as
at Hand-over date. In fact, the verified figure has risen to N25 billion on
Governor Obiano’s efforts. It is pertinent to state that this is pure and plain
IOU by the Federal Government, which can be cash only when it is refunded.
The nearest to cash in the
foregoing is item 20, which is a USD155 million investment in Eurobond and
other foreign currency-denominated securities made by the previous
administration at its twilight. In naira terms, this was worth N26.5 billion at
handover. The Press Conference came out informed that this is intact in the
three managing banks and unliquidated. In simple language, Governor Obiano’s
administration has not touched one dollar of it.
Item 22 is a statement of
real cash handed over. By the Hand-over Note, cash at bank as at December 31,
2013 was N11 billion. Three months
after, precisely on hand-over on March 17, 2014, the cash had dwindled to just
about N9 billion.
The foregoing has been
items on the asset side of the Hand-over Note. Now follow us over to the
liability side. Total contract sum for all projects inherited from Peter Obi is
in the amount of N185 billion. In keeping faith with the promise of continuity,
completion, commission and commencement, Governor Obiano has silently been
paying down the inherited contracts strictly from Federal transfers received in
the period of his administration. Someone whispered to us at the Conference
that by sticking to his own earnings, Governor Obiano has acted as though led
by a premonition that a N75 billion sing-song would soon be in the offing.
Thus, from March 2014 through August 2015, a total of N69.2 billion has been
received as federal transfer, out of which N35 billion has been utilised in
whittling down the inherited liability, unannounced. The chorus in the N75
billion folklore may as well be to keep the grave silence of the huge liability
ever silent. (guardian)
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