A Bayelsa State based transparency group known as the Rescue Bayelsa Group has petitioned the State House of Assembly and the authorities of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over allege questionable N10billion Palm Estate Project components of the N17 billion loan approved last year for the State Governor, Senator Douye Diri.
According to the group, though they are not bothered by the approval made to the Bayelsa Governor to access the N4billion for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) counterpart fund, the EFCC and the State House of Assembly should review and investigate the N10 billion facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to revitalize the Elebele oil palm project.
The Rescue Bayelsa Group, in a petition submitted to the Bayelsa State House of Assembly and the EFCC and signed by their counsel, Barr. Osagie Obayuwana, claimed that the component of the N10 billion component of loan package to revitalize the Elebele oil palm project is unnecessary and that the Bayelsa Palm Estate has become a cocoa farm for successive administrations.
According to the group, ” Even the immediate past administration was unable to entrench a solid governance structure in place thereby making the estate susceptible to sundry fraudulent activities and that at some point in the immediate past administration, the Bayelsa Palm Estate was leased to some Bayelsans who till date, are harvesting the palm fruits of the estate and making fantastic profits.”
“ We are taken aback if the Revenue or Finance Committee of this honourable House has conducted a penetrating investigation as how much is being made by the lessees in the Lease Agreement. It is also fundamental that so many concerned Bayelsans are asking what the identity of the lessees are, and other terms of reference as to the tenure of the lease agreement”.
“if thorough investigation has not been conducted in this direction, it may be a monumental error of judgment on the part of this honourable House to approve the N10 billion Agric. component of the loan. Frankly, part of the plummeting Internally Generated Revenue in the State may be attributable to the financial leakages emanating from such ventures. The Prosperity Administration has been at the saddle for one year and one wonders if it has initiated any investigation into the Palm Estate. We are indeed fed-up with the usual rhetoric of Agricultural development without any practical action”.
“The Bayelsa Assembly owes Bayelsans the responsibility of making laws to kick-start the growth of the economy and develop the real sectors. If we do not know the value of the Palm Estate, then it is grave injustice to allocate value to it and appropriate a humongous sum of N10 billion to an agricultural project in which people have been benefitting, making money and putting money into their pockets”.
“What appears most worrisome is the fact that since the loan was granted, government has not made a statement as to whether or not the loan has been accessed or not and or whether work has commenced at the Palm Estate. We ply that road everyday and so far, nothing has been done till date.We are indeed weary that if there is no concrete plan to invest the money, it would just go in to another conduit pipe and the development of the palm estate would be history”.
“What is very important in matters concerning financial appropriation is not so much of approval of loans as much as its usage in the benefit of the people. It is on the strength of this that we urge the BSHA and its relevant Committees should visit the Palm Estate to ascertain whether work has commenced or not”.
“The BSHA should suspend the N10 billion component of the loan if there is no clear roadmap on how the loan will be expended, with a clear feasibility studies, on short-term, medium-term and long-term benefits. If the loan is accessed, we are willing, determined and able to resort to litigation or take a writ of Prohibition to stop the loan because procedurally, the loan is anathema to the development of Bayelsa State. Indeed we don’t intend to join the Honourable House as a party to the law suit”.
“That the BSHA (Finance Committee) should liaise with the Ministry of Agriculture to reach a consensus on workable solutions with respect to the N10 billion loan Government has earmarked for the Palm estate at Elebele. That if the BSHA does not apply measures aimed at assuring Bayelsans on the expected rate of return on investment of this loan, we may as a last resort, call out the Youths to occupy the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in a peaceful manner to register our protests. Any money borrowed by the Bayelsa State Government is the tax-payers money”.
“Loans must be paid back with interest within the stipulated moratorium period. This is why Transparency International and the World Bank make it mandatory to track expenditure patterns in borrowing in government agencies including states. The Central Bank Policy stands against misapplication and misappropriation of funds loaned for specific projects or programmes. Let it be emphasized that in her oversight function, the legislature is expected to exercise due diligence in matter verging on appropriation”.
“In this case it is crystal clear that rejuvenating a Palm State on lease is a contradiction because the estate cannot be on lease ( producing money to the lessees) and at the same time be revamped to the tune of Ten Billion Naira (N10 billion) only. Finally, we hereby advice the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to produce the lease agreement, revoke it publicly, carry out feasibility studies before any informed investment decision can take place. We shall not hesitate to petition the various anti-graft agencies on this matter”
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