Governor Alex Otti says the Islamic Development Bank has approved a $125 million loan to finance some of Abia’s capital projects.

The governor announced this on Monday during the monthly media parley in Umuahia.

He also disclosed that the African Development Bank approved another loan for Abia.

According to him, the loans have not been drawn yet, but approvals are in place.

The governor explained that the next steps were to perfect the documentation, sign the loan agreement, and meet the conditions.

He said that the government had received offers of loans from commercial banks in the country but had yet to draw from any of them.

“Of course, we are also financially enlightened as a government that we do not need to draw loans until we need them. Any time we have liquidity, we will repay so that we don’t continue to accumulate interest,” Mr Otti, a former bank chief, said.

Mr Otti, a Labour Party member, denied recent allegations by a major opposition party, accusing the government of securing N1.5 billion loan, saying “they were lies.”

The governor disclosed that the state government had just approved bursary awards for all students of Abia origin in different Law schools in the country.

He said the bursary awards were prior to requests by the students.

Mr Otti also said the government had started setting up a new scholarship board to help hardworking but indigent students access quality education.

He said his administration was also considering giving wage awards to state civil servants to help cushion the effect of the country’s prevailing hardships.

Reacting to the complaint by some workers who had yet to receive their salary for some months now, he boasted about the prompt payment for the majority.

Mr Otti, who expressed worry about the bloated civil service, said that there were close to 66,000 people on the payroll at the state and local government levels.

He said the number was initially more than that but was reduced after the verification exercise that was done in Abia.

“So, we keep improving, we keep trying to sanitise the system and we keep working hard to ensure that the welfare of our workers are prioritised,” Mr Otti said.

(NAN)