Information reaching our newsdesk had it that the management of Sterling Bank has seized the allocation of the Degema Local Government Council of Rivers State.
Knowledgeable sources told our correspondent that the management’s decision to grab the allocation of the council was the inability of the LGA to clear the loan it took from the bank.
The sources further hinted this weekly that the said loan amount to N350m, which the council chairman, Hon. Daddy Ibigoni Pokima took to execute some projects in the area.
Due to the non-release of the allocation, the staff of the council have not been paid, which had propelled them to proceed on indefinite strike. Our correspondent who visited the Council Secretariat at the Degema Consulate reported that the entrance of the secretariat has been sealed up, by the leadership of the LGA Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).
When the council chairman, Hon. Pokima was contacted by our editor, he denied obtaining a loan from Sterling Bank.
However, Hon. Pokima admitted that the contractor that handled the just commissioned stadium project collected a loan of N180m from the Sterling Bank; “but that issue has been resolved”.
His words, “The Degema Council does not obtain loan from any bank. People should stop saying what they did not know”.
According to him, his administration has done much for the development of the LGA by embarking on numerous laudable projects. Hon. Pokima promised that his administration would continue to execute projects that will put smiles on the faces of the people of the LGA. ###
