Budget Padding Allegations Mere Propaganda- Soludo
The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has denied the allegation of budget padding levelled against his government, saying those behind the allegations were “criminals of different types displaced by his government” that are fighting back.
An anonymous online user had posted an article titled, “Budget padding scandal hits Anambra State Government” which circulated widely on Wednesday.
The governor, in a statement on Thursday, by his press secretary, Christian Aburime, debunked the claims, saying the write-up was false.
The writer of the article, which did not indicate a name on it, had alleged that “the said budget contains outrageously inflated projects by margins as high as 300 per cent in some ministries when compared with what former governor Willie Obiano spent”.
It said, “To put it in proper perspective: The supposedly extravagant Gov Willie Obiano delivered each kilometer of road with N100m. But Gov Soludo has budgeted over N300m per kilometer of the same road.”
Responding in a statement titled, “Losers and detractors at work,” Soludo said purveyors of such propaganda were criminal elements displaced by his government.
He said, “The misinformation in the referenced article should evoke pity for the purveyors in the light of the manifest ignorance boldly couriered in every paragraph of the hasty piece of distraction. Bad as it is, no credible reporter has signed this off, establishing it for what it is; lazy propaganda.
“For clarity, it is important we state that we are not oblivious of the diversionary antics of those whose lucrative criminal enterprise is being smoked out by our renewed fight against all forms of criminality in the state, housed in various camps and bushes perpetrating heinous crimes.”
He described the rumour peddlers as “unknown gunmen” who had metamorphosed to “unknown writers”.
He said they were those whose source of livelihood was government money and patronage as a result of free oil money which he said had stopped coming given the paucity of revenues from Abuja.
He said, “Currently, to even fund infrastructural development we would of course have to borrow until our internally generated revenue is gotten to a point where we meet these obligations.”
In doing this, he said, “We owe it as a duty to Ndị Anambra to ensure that every penny of our borrowed funds is accounted for, and deployed to building quality infrastructure, and not for consumption.
“They claimed that the commissioner for works refused to appear before the state Assembly to defend the budget. This again is the figment of the imagination of the ‘unknown writers’ with the intent of creating rancour between the executive and the members of the house of Assembly.
“The Commissioner for Works and infrastructure was, indeed, the first commissioner to appear before the House Committee on the first day of the budget defence being 29th of June, 2022 at about 10.00 am. This is on record and was captured by the press.
“On the cost of road per kilometer, it is funny that the “Unknown writer” like his counterpart, the “unknown gunmen”, is using propaganda and deceit to hoodwink the unsuspecting public. How do you start talking about the cost of the contract for roads currently being designed and the contract not awarded? Very funny! Of course, people always judge others by their own standards.
“Since the “unknown writer” made dubious comparisons to previous administrations, it is important that we place on record for the purposes of Ndi Anambra who employed us and to whom we are accountable, that the previous administrations awarded roads with the cost per kilometer varying from above N1bn per kilometer to a little over N200m per kilometer when diesel was about N120 per litre and asphalt was about N18,000 per ton. Of course, cost per kilometer depends on several factors including the topography, soil texture, design, stone base or just on laterite, overall quality etc.”
