PREMIUM TIMES

The Bayelsa State Government on Saturday denied allegations that a N3 billion agriculture loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been diverted by government officials.

David Alagoa, the commissioner for agriculture in the state, described the allegations as “false, baseless and childish”.

John Idumange, a former general manager of the state-owned Bayelsa Broadcasting Corporation, alleged that the agricultural loan obtained by the past administration led by Seriake Dickson has been diverted by the current administration in the state.

Mr Idumange, who was an aide on research and documentation to Mr Dickson, claimed the present administration was diminishing the efforts of Mr Dickson’s government.

He claimed he had so far recorded 17 cases of diversion of the N3 billion loan.

Mr Idumange said he would file a complaint with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission when the count reaches 25.

The commissioner for agriculture, Mr Alagoa, who spoke in a radio interview in Yenagoa on Saturday, said the first tranche of N1.5 billion facility which was received in March 2020 for infrastructure has been deployed to upgrade the existing cassava processing plant and set up two rice mills.

He said the facilities where the funds were spent on were available for any interested person to visit and inspect, adding that the CBN has stringent inbuilt governance mechanisms to guard against abuse.

Mr Alagoa dismissed as false, claims made by Mr Idumange who called into the programme to allege that a paltry sum of N50,000 was disbursed to few farmers while government officials shared the rest of the money.