Okonjo-iweala 'stalls' Rivers' Loan for Water

Amaechi seeks minister’s probe

For many Rivers State residents, hopes of having drinking water may have been dashed, it was learnt yesterday.

The World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), which had approved some loans for massive water projects, suddenly pulled the brakes on the facility.

Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi called yesterday for the probe of Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s role in the stalled deal, which had been approved by the National Assembly.

Amaechi urged the House of Representatives, which is making laws for the state as a result of the crisis in the House of Assembly, to summon Mrs Okonjo-Iweala and Minister of Water Resources Mrs Stella Ochekpe over the matter.

The governor spoke when the House Committee on Water Resources, accompanied by Executive Directors of the Niger Delta Basin Development Authority, visited him at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

He said the state government had fulfilled all requirements to receive and benefit from the loan scheme with the World Bank and the ADB, adding that his administration was ready to allow the Minister of Finance award the contract to any person of her choice to provide potable water for Rivers citizens.

He said: “The people who are dying and deprived of the potable drinking water are Rivers people who don’t have water in their homes.

“In fact, if you whisper to those agencies (World Bank and ADB) that she (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) has refused to sign off, a woman of that international standard, maybe she wants to join the fray of quarrel. It is like two wives quarreling over a husband. It is embarrassing, completely embarrassing for somebody who has been Managing Director of World Bank to neglect the impact water has on the citizenry.

“The National Assembly has approved it and we have fulfilled all requirements with the World Bank and African Development Bank (ADB). We are now at the point of release of the funds for execution of the water projects for our...