Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State has reiterated his commitment not to collect either domestic or foreign loans on behalf of the government to run his administration.
Governor Nwifuru made his position known on Monday in his office in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
He spoke when he received in audience members of the Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team, led by its Global Director, Peter Sage.
The Governor, who appreciated AMURT for their health and other interventions in the State, pledged the continued readiness of his administration to collaborate with them for the good of the state.
While maintaining that his administration has given boosted attention to the health sector, he noted that the State has brought much improvement in rural health facilities and services, and commended AMURT for complementing the efforts of the government.
He expressed excitement over AMURT’s plan to empower rural women and give scholarships to young people of the state, and advised them to independently assess and select deserving beneficiaries without involving politicians with personal interests.
He informed the visitors that their interventions in whichever area was welcome as much as it wouldn’t translate to loans for the government and people of the state.
Nwifuru reiterated: “But in doing all these, they are grants and not loans because we agreed in exco that the State government will not borrow one naira till when we see the need for that, and we will come back to discuss.
“It is part of our own manifesto.
“The Governor cannot wake up and start borrowing money, and that’s why the speaker is here.
“I’ve never requested approval to borrow any Kobo from the bank or any industry, Federal Government or outside Nigeria because that is not part of our own bargain.”
Meanwhile, Nwifuru directed the payment of an additional N150,000 monthly allowance to all State employed medical doctors.
The Governor, who said the Doctors complained of reduction in their January salaries, sought explanations from the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Moses Ekuma.
He explained that the additional allowance was to enable the doctors to fuel their vehicles to the various hospitals under their charge.
Nwifuru said: “I got this information from the medical doctors that their salary was reduced without known reasons to them.
“See what I want you to do: pay them their main salary, whatever it is, and include N150,000 allowance for them to enable them fuel their vehicles to their various postings.”
Sage, in his address, stated they were in the Governor’s Office to identify with him and seek continued collaboration with the State Government in delivering health services, especially to the rural communities in the state.
He noted that the visit was also part of activities marking the organisation’s impactful 14 years anniversary in the state, adding that AMURT was currently working in six local government areas of the state.
The AMURT Global Director explained that the organisation has carried out a lot of interventions in the state in the areas of health, water, sanitation and hygiene, adding that they have drilled about 250 water boreholes in rural communities in the state, done over 1,500 cost free caesarean sections on complicated deliveries and sponsored hospital deliveries for many indigent women in Ebonyi State, among numerous others.
He stated that the organisation was working on empowering many rural women in the state and giving scholarships to indigent children, and expressed optimism that the organisation would be supported by the State Government to extend their services to other local government areas.
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The Global Director was accompanied in the visit by the AMURT Country Director, Dada Tor Bjoernsen, and other team members.
AMURT is a foreign Non Governmental Organisation working in Nigeria, with Ebonyi State as one of its states of operation.
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