Hundreds of youths from across Delta State have protested what they termed as the ‘senseless’ borrowing of loans by Dr Ifeanyi Okowa’s led administration of the state.
To vent their anger and express their disapproval of the latest loan borrowing of 120 Billion by the state government, the youths on Monday afternoon barricaded the popular East-West by the Agbarho in Ughelli Local Government Area causing traffic for some hours.
Recall that Delta State House of Assembly on Thursday, January 19, 2023, approved a request for the state government to obtain a loan of 100 billion naira out of the earlier approved 150 billion naira consolidated syndicated loan and 20 billion naira from Fidelity Bank to finance the Delta State Government additional investment of 3% Equity in UTM Offshore Limited Floating Liquefied Natural Gas, FLNG project.
The youths from a Coalition of Civil Society Organisations comprising the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), Conference for the Actualisation of Human Rights and students and ex-students leaders during the protest carried placards with different inscriptions on why the state government should halt the borrowings without corresponding development in the oil-rich state in the Niger Delta region.
Among those who led the protest, the President of the Youth Wing of UPU, Comrade Kelly Umukoro, said, “We have seen that the present Delta State is about to sell us for the future of their children and themselves. You have few months to leave government, you are borrowing another 120 Billion Naira. Then a new bank that was just established which was alleged to be the bank of the executive governor, the bank is the one bringing a whooping sum of 100 Billion Naira.
“Is that we are sponsoring Governor Okowa’s ambition to become the Vice President of Nigeria with Delta State money? Did hold any meeting as Deltans that we want to use our treasury from our state to sponsor Governor?”, Comrade Umukoro asked.
For his part, the President of CDHR, Comrade Kehinde Taiga, said, “We are here to protest the fundamental right of Deltans. Our governor has metamorphosed from democracy to cabalcracy and borrowcracy”.
