A youth group in Bayelsa State under the auspices of the Democratic Youth Watch (DEYOW) has raised the alarm over suspected diversion of N12 billion loan taken by the state government for capital projects, accusing the government of taking credits for NDDC roads rehabilitation project.

The group therefore asked the Governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, to give account of about N12 billion loan he was said to have collected to complete ongoing projects across the state.

The group accused the government of diverting the money pointing out that since the loan was collected, there was nothing on ground at project sites to justify it.

Chairman of the group, Mr. Ayawei Zikala and Secretary, Mr. Anthony Ebiendu, insisted that the government declared the loan at one of its transparency briefings, and allegedly diverted the funds to other uses, for which reason, it is yet to mobilise contractors to site. The group lamented that the governor had failed to tell the people of the state, how the money was spent.

According to it, “The governor declared the said money at a time civil servants were being owed salaries for several months and when the governor was asked to use the said N12 billion to settle outstanding civil servant salaries, he declined and insisted that the loan was collected to fund projects across the state.

“But after independently inspecting the many abandoned projects across the state, we are convinced that the state government didn’t put a dime from the N12 billion into any of the abandoned projects across the state.

“Therefore, it is high time the governor began to explain to Bayelsa people how that money was spent. We say so because all we could remember is that, after the governor announced that the state government has collected N12billion loan to fund projects, all they did was dump trips of sand at the mini-estate they are building opposite and patch some bad spots along the Isaac Boro expressway.

“To us those projects do not worth the said N12 billion and we, therefore, want to urge the governor to give proper account of how the said money was spent.

“We are also aware that in an attempt by the state government to cover up for the said N12 billion they have misappropriated, the government falsely took credit for projects being funded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“It is no longer news that the NDDC has since come out in the open to state without any fear of contradiction that the state government lied when it said repair on all internal roads in Yenagoa was being funded by the restoration government.

“We will not back out in our quest to unravel the mystery behind the N12 billion loan the state collected in the name of Bayelsa and its people.

“We will not allow our leaders to enslave our future; we will continue to protest until the governor does what is right.”

However Bayelsa Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, rather than address the allegations described the position of the youth body as propaganda sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva to incite the people.

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