Benue Assembly approves Ortom’s request to borrow N18.2bn from Nigerian govt

Benue House of Assembly on Tuesday approved Governor Samuel Ortom’s request to take an N18.225 billion loan from the Federal Government.

Ortom had in a letter to the Assembly asked for approval to take the facility to cushion the effect of repayment of bailout funds collected in 2015 and 2016.

He told the parliament the federal government had offered a bridging finance facility for state governments to access such loans.

The governor added that the federal government provided the bailout in 2015.

The bailout, according to him, was to enable states to pull out of the recession occasioned by the crash in crude oil prices.

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Ortom said the federal government approved for the bridging facility to the tune of N656.112 billion for all the states to ameliorate the situation.

The governor said: “The amount approved for Benue was N18.225 billion with disbursement in six tranches at the interest rate of nine percent per annum.

“The loan tenor would be 30 years with a moratorium of two years and at monthly repayment mode.”

He appealed to the House to approve the request to enable him to continue to deliver dividends of democracy and implement policies and programmes contained in the 2021 budget and beyond.

The House approved the governor’s request in a unanimous resolution.

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