Okorocha explains true position of Paris Club loan refund

Urges Govt To Release IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu
Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, has explained that the state government was expecting to receive the sum of N13.5b of the Paris Club refund loan due to the state from the Federal Government and not N80b as is being speculated in some quarters.

Okorocha made the disclosure at the weekend, while fielding questions from journalists after receiving the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, at the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, on his way to Umuahia, Abia State. Okorocha regretted that some people were speculating wrongly about money, noting that if he had received N80b, Imo would have been elevated to become a mini-London. He said the N13b would only pay two months salary of workers and pensions.

He said: “The N80 is actually the amount being owed the state, but it is not what is agreed on or what was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for payment. There is a complete misinformation on the issue of the Paris Club Fund.”

On the issue of the detention and trial of the leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, Okorocha urged the Federal Government to release him to douse tension among Igbo people and leaders, saying: “The Federal Government should release Nnamdi Kanu so that they don’t make a hero of out him. They should release him and let the leaders of the South-East talk to him to desist from such acts in the future, because it is an agitation not well presented, which is what angers the Federal Government.”