25 April 2018
It is expedient that more clarification be made on the misunderstood issues surrounding the Bond approved by the Cross River State House of Assembly. Information making waves around has it that the said Bond is basically to aide embezzlement, this I must debunk with all sense of patriotism and owing to the fact I have superior knowledge on the subject matter.
First of all, what is a Bond? According to a dictionary, it is an interest-bearing certificate of public or private indebtedness. In a lay man's definition it's simply, trading your debt in the market to gain profits. It is not in anyway cash borrowing to fund any project, instead the Bond is issued to secure fiscal stability, and the proceeds of Bond are deposited in to the sinking fund. Hence it become important for me to state categorically that bond can't basically be issued for a project because a Bond is like a share whose value chain will only appreciate over time.
This is contrary to the allegations and claims of embezzlement which is said to be aided by the Cross River State House of Assembly, under the leadership of Rt Hon John Gaul. The Bond approved by the House is basically to secure the state debts, which is what every government does even the federal government inclusive.
The process of issuing Bond is a long, rigorous and transparent one, and this Bond can only be approved by the Debt management office, Abuja, closely monitored by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). So tell me how can one man embezzle anything here? One of the conditions for any state to access this Bond, is to pass the test of financial security, in essence, for the state to even get the Bond, the state must have been certified as being financially secured for the relevant authorities to append their signature for the Bond.
When the request was presented in February, early this year. It was rightly sent to the House committee on Finance and Appropriations to do the needful, in which stakeholders engagement along side public hearings were held, all these were done within the public knowledge, which had relevant persons in attendance at the different stages.
For the benefit of doubt, we must note the difference between 'Borrowing and Issuing of Bond' so we don't begin to mix them up, and by so doing begin to mislead the unsuspecting public, as we are talking about issuing. I can say authoritatively that Rt Hon Eteng Jonah Williams, went through all the process as required by law in regards to this very issue, and hence presented before the house a report and after due consideration by the honourable members, the House duly and lawfully approved it.
For the records, in 2014 Cross River State Government had initially issued a Bond and consequently created a sinking fund for the proceeds of the Bond, which is the right and legitimate thing to do. And in 2016 the state further re-aligned the Bond, and so what is being done now in 2018, is just to authorize the government to issue additional Bond security to the already existing ones. Which is in no way fraudulent, and has birthed no rational reason for name calling of either the 8th House or the person of the Honourable Speaker of the house, as he has discharged his duties lawfully and legitimately without any form of sentiment or bias, neither has he displayed any form of ineptitudeness in the discharge of this statutory responsibilities and functions.
It has become imperative to state unequivocally that the avalanche of diatribe launched at the 8th Cross river State House of Assembly and her leadership is so unbecoming and un statesmanly. I therefore urge all critics to subsequently get their facts right before publishing, for precedence sake and for the avoidance of public display of predaceous tendencies.
Victor Adaha
Is a Public Affairs Analyst
