Cross River assembly stops Ayade’s N649b ISPO request

Attempts by Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State to secure a N648.8 billion loan for a private firm from the state government has been stopped by the House of Assembly.

Letter for the request was written and signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) upon the directive of the governor.

If the request pulls through, the state will have an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) of N648.8 billion in favour of Messrs Sydney Construction Nigeria Limited, which he reportedly has interest in.

The letter dated February 19, 2019 with reference number SSG/S/300/VOL.XVII/1199, addressed to the assembly speaker seeks the legislature’s passage of a resolution granting “an approval for the state government to issue an ISPO of N300 million monthly through the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in favour of Messrs Sydney Construction Nigeria Limited for the Construction of the 275 kilometres Calabar/Ikom/Katsina-Ala Super Highway subject to issuance of Interim Payment Certificate (IPC).”

This State Executive Council had on Monday, February 18, approved the issuance of the ISPO to UBA.

It has been argued that it would take the state government 180 years to offset the debt.

To fast-track the needed resolution of the house, it was alleged that the 25 lawmakers were offered N10 million each, but they insisted on N50 million each.