Rivers Assembly permits Amaechi to access N19bn reserved funds

The Rivers State House of Assembly has approved the request by Governor Chibuike Amaechi to access N19 billion from the state’s reserved funds.

Twenty-three lawmakers including the speaker, who were present at the 93rd legislative day, unanimously granted the governor’s request.

Amaechi, in the request letter, which was read on the floor of the House, stated that the funds would be used to complete ongoing capital projects in the state.

Leader of the House, Chidi Lloyd, while speaking on behalf of his colleagues, said the request did not need to be debated, because the state government needed the funds to complete ongoing projects and pay bills.

Earlier, the Speaker, Otelemaba Dan-Amachree, pointed out that the state government had unpaid bills due to financial crunch, adding that with the huge money in the reserved funds, it was proper to approve the request.

Explaining further on the reserved funds, Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Josiah Olu, said the money would be accessed from the over N50 billion saved by the government.

He said the request was because the Federal Government had not released funds to the states from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

“It is important for us to tell Rivers people that this was necessary because we are all aware that it has dried up; the money we get from FAAC. The Commissioner for Finance and Accountant-General (of Rivers State) just returned from Abuja, telling us that there is no money to share to the states.

He further explained: “This is money saved by this administration. The sixth Assembly passed a bill that we should be saving N1 billion monthly. We are not borrowing; I repeat, the Rivers State House of Assembly did not approve for the governor to access funds from any bank. We are accessing our own funds.”

According to Olu, the state government had accessed the reserved funds twice (N30 billion and N5 billion respectively).