Cross River Speaker decries N740b debt burden left by Ayade for Otu

**Says the Assembly will probe all concessionings, revoke vague ones

The speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Hon Elvert Ayambem has expressed bitterness over the humongous loans that were acquired by the administration of immediate past Governor, Ben Ayade to the tune of N740b that have put the State on Edge.
By 2015 after 4 years under Ayade Cross Rivers State had a domestic debt profile of ₦115.5 billion and an external debt of $136.4 million (₦138.4 billion) then in his second tenure he amassed a domestic debt of ₦197.2 billion and an external debt of $209.5 million (₦291.1 billion) between 2015 and 2023.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja recently, the speaker said the debt burden and its effect on the new administration of Bassey Otu cannot be quantified.
The speaker also accused Ayade of concessioning all the viable projects and yet “you hear people saying the years I was a governor I did not take any loan. I will laugh, how can people tell such lies.
“These things that are in the public glare and you will sit and say you did not take any loan. That is outrageous.

“How I wish the incumbent governor came and met a sizeable loan that he can repay. It would have helped us a great deal. You know he is trying to finish that cargo airport.
He pointed out that Governor Otu is eager to continue abandoned projects “There is one thing I like about the current Governor, do you know as long as most of the projects were being done, he picks those ones that he knows are realistic. What is he projecting? Continuity.
“I went and met him to say it is not every of the projects that were left behind by the former Governor that he should give attention to.
“We discovered lately that almost all those ones that are viable were concessioned two days to his leaving office and who are the beneficiaries? It is his Family and friends. But all of them are still concessioned to one person.
“You bring one, the name of the company is so and so, meanwhile 90% belongs to one person. I can tell you that all of these things you hear about concessioning, no dime was deposited in Cross Rivers State coffers not one dime, quote me anywhere.

“Okay, look at Transcorp, Cross Rivers State has 30%, My members are right now on the issue. The last time they interphased with the management of Transcorp they could not account for a dime that was paid to Cross River State Government and now the information we are getting is that they have sold transcorp outrightly.
“Where is the position of Cross Rivers based on the 30% shares. Was there any ceding to Cross Rivers State Government.
“The time Elumelu was running Transcorp for years there was no money paid to Cross Rivers State account. Look at the garment Factory, look at the Ogoja Rice Mill, they have been concessioned, yet no document anywhere that shows a dime was paid to the Government coffers.”
When asked on what the House is doing, he said, “There is a whole lot we are doing but let me give you the side of it, all the infrastructures and industries that were consessioned in the previous administration, we are taking them one after the other.
“At the end of the day we will revoke all of that nonsense done that they call concession. Take it from me we will revoke all because you cannot concession any state government infrastructure and fail to depisite a dime in the state government purse. It is not done anywhere.
“You will see faceless people telling you they are the concessioniers. I don’t understand, when you trace it, we were in the room, we tried to Google the ownership of the company that Cross River House was concessioned to, do you know they have pulled down every information about that company?
“A functional Conglomerate should have a functional website. In this case no website where one can log in to see the management of such conglomerate. So that is all the charade you see and when you want to talk they will say, you are on vendetta.
“Nobody is on any personal vendetta. If the former Governor had handed over to the younger brother, the younger brother would have had cause to probe him because of the way things were done.

“For me, the 10th Assembly is a purposeful assembly as we christained the Assembly, the Peoples Assembly. What will benefit the entire citizens of Rivers State we will do regardless of whose toes we are stepping on, no matter whose ox is gored.
“I am urging Cross Rivers people to stay through for Cross Rivers to believe in the leadership of the Governor Bassey Otu because we have not had it this good I am not saying it because I am the speaker of the assembly that is working in synergy with him.
“The Governor accounts for every kobo that comes to that State. Let me shock you, there was a day the Governor wanted to travel and incidentally I was in the office of the chief of staff, he was billed to travel in a few days they brought a document that a certain approval was given for the trip. When he looked at the figure he flared saying I told you I am traveling, what Am I going to do where I am going to with such amount of money.
“He picked his pen and reduced the money more than half. He warned the chief of staff not to allow such to happen again. If you have such a Governor, money approved for him, he picked his biro and slashed the money.
“He warned that such recklessness must not be tolerated in his government. That is the kind of Governor we have and he has a very humble way of appealing to even the legislators. We are due to have traveled like twice for legislative engagement outside the shores of Nigeria but we have not been able to go. He appeals to us in a manner that it takes a stupid person not to understand with him. In the previous administration it was not so. If you know what I know you may even do more than what I am doing.
“There was no money deposited despite all the noise about concessioning. If you wait for Prince Bassey Otu to say anything against Ben Ayade he will not say it but because he will not say it that is why I have to.
“I am not in the executive and the legislature is structured in such a manner that it serves as a watchdog especially the recklessness of the executive we act as the watchdog of the executive and I have taken it upon myself that watchdog truely we will be.
“If I keep quiet as much as the governor is keeping quiet then the decay will continue. So Governor is keeping Quiet, I am working to ensure that these anomalies are not repeated in Cross River State.”
“I promised myself if I rise to any position of leadership I will do those things that will benefit the people of my State and put my footprints on the Sands of time.
“I got into the 9th Assembly there was no Godfather. The kind of approvals the 9th Assembly was granting to the former governor. I told myself if I am fortunate to be elected speaker I would not do this one.
“I stood up against a particular one when the former governor wanted loan approval of N5b for unforseen government activities and I asked, we are taking finances and there is no sub heading, as far as I am consigned the document is vague. You should telm us what the money is meant for, it is not tied to anything.
“The whole thing look vague. You should tell us what you want to do with N5b. Which unforseen Government activities that were not captured in the budget and now you are lumping all that together to the tune of N5b.
“He applied that we should give him approval to take loan of N5b. That was my first war with the former Governor, he had to call me, tell me the story of my life and all that. I refuse to chicken out because I understood that the money is tax payers money.
“All these loans, the State will do a refund of the loan with so much interest. N5b is a lot of money, any money that comes into 6 digits is a lot of money, forget the nosediving nature of the economy.
“So I quarried why we should approve up to N5b for unforseen governmenr activities. When I became speaker eventually I told myself I will do things the right way, and I will do the other way round because it became a tradition that we just give approval in the State Assembly without any interface with the governor, when they send any of these correspondences to us we don’t even ask we just give approval.
“So when I was voted in as speaker, I met with my Governor and said sir, I was part of the 9th Assembly, could you please allow the legislature to function optimally or independently? Because that is the only way we can put Cross Rivers State on the right trajectory.
“So I met with my Governor one on one to allow us function optimally. Of course the Governor we have today expressly granted me the approval. He said go and function to the best of your ability. Here we find ourselves.
“When asked to compare the Cross Rivers State Assembly under the previous administration and the current one for which is leading as Speaker, he said without maligning anybody or insulting the former Assembly, because I was part of that assembly, nothing much was achieved because of the leadership that was improper even those that were ordinary members could not do much.
“Leaders can’t be led, so we just tagged along with the kind of leadership we had them, however, I will not completely say the leadership was not in proper shape, it was the leadership at the executive level. “An Assembly can perform optimally when the executive does not have overbearing influence on the speaker. The Assembly begins and ends with the speaker.
“It is what the governor wants that most of the people do. So the former speaker, in fairness to him, he tried to wriggle out to achieve that level of purposeful leadership but the former governor will not give him that chance, he will threaten and tell him, we brought you from nowhere and all that.
“That can dampen anybody spirit. I will say milestones we would covered in the 9th Assembly they are immeasurable.
He said in his four years in the 9th Assembly the Governor did not assent to upto to 4 bills because he did not have that time to look at the bills.
“The only bills that the then governor will swiftly assent is the Budget or the executive Bill, the ones that they sponsored which favour them. Those were the bills that were easily assented to but the ones that comes from the Assembly he will not attend to them.
“One my bill because I was on the Governor’s jugular at all times because I wanted him to do the right thing then I was perceived as spoiled Brad that is overbearing.
“There was this time our community land was taken over by the Fulani. How they got into that land nobody knows. I kept meeting Ayade to see how they can be evicted out of that land but he was giving me deaf ears and the issue was so heavy.
“The bill was the anti grazing bill which I sponsored it. He called me and asked that I should not name it anti grazing bill that I Should rather change it to livestock management bill I told him, no.
“It was a signal for them to know that there is nowhere to Harbour them. The bill came up, first he went to the media to say that the bill is draconian.
“When he came back I told Speaker we will not seat unless the governor assented to the bill. I said this singular issue can set this Assembly on fire, as I will let every hell lose.
“The Speaker went and told him, there is a problem, the member said we should not seat. I curried the favour of members. I asked how will they feel if their ancestral home is taken over by fulani. There is serious degradation going on our people cannot farm. Some members who were thinking in my line supported me.
“The Governor was assenting to that bill and abusing me because I have made him to do what naturally he would bot want to do. You know you need to go all way out in supporting your people, whether it will take a toll on you as long as it is not leading you to death.
“If you are a true representative of your people, you take all of those bullets”
On the asset recovery, he said they have been able to recover equipments purchased by the state which were kept away somewhere in Obudu from where they were being leased to the State Government.