N50b bond: Uduaghan releases expenditure, projects

The Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, on Monday gave a summary of how his administration spent the N50 billion Infrastructural Development Bond it secured from the capital market.
The bond was secured in 2011 shortly after the acting Governor of the state, Prince Sam Obi, who administered the state when the Court of Appeal in Benin, Edo State, on November 9, 2010, ousted Governor Uduaghan from office, borrowed N20 billion.
Uduaghan, at the Mid-Term Ministerial briefing at the Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba, said aside the dualization of the Ughelli-Asaba Expressway with N5 billion, the dualization of Effurun-Eku Road also gulped N5 billion.
He said while over N3 billion was earmarked for the development of Warri Industrial and Business Park, N4 billion was set aside for the four new state polytechnics being built across the three senatorial districts of the state.
According to him, the Senate of the Delta State University took over N1 billion, coupled with the N1 billion spent on the Sapele Modern Market.
Uduaghan added: “The Education Initiative in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary schools, over N8.8 billion has been spent.
“We have spent N2.2 billion on the rehabilitation of Eku Baptist Hospital, even as N1 billion was expended on the state’s Maternal and Childcare, Central Hospital, Warri.”
The governor, who was represented by his Commissioner for Finance, Chief Kenneth Okpara, further said the Ekpan Maternal and Childcare Centre has cost the state over N0.5 billion.
The Schools of Engineering and Maritime Technology took N1 billion and N0.5 billion respectively.
While he said N1 billion has gone into the rehabilitation of Courts across the state and N2 billion into the Warri Water Project, he said the transportation sector, including the purchase of taxis, boats, luxury buses, have cost the state over N5.5 billion.
According to Uduaghan, the construction of township roads within Asaba capital city, Warri, Agbor, Sapele and Abigborodo, took over N3.1 billion from the total bond money.
He said in all, N46.6 billion has been expended since the money was borrowed in 2011.