Governor Monday Okpebholo’s proposal to hire a consulting firm to examine, reconcile, and retrieve the money owed to the state government from the Project Gazelle African Export-Import Bank loan has been authorized by the Edo State House of Assembly.
In addition, the consultant must recoup any additional crude oil loan agreements and deduct 10% as professional costs. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited-sponsored structured forward-sale financing arrangement backed by crude oil is known by the code name Project Gazelle.
According to the agreement, NNPC Ltd. allocated a certain quantity of barrels of crude oil to a Special Purpose Vehicle, which has then applied to foreign financial institutions to supply the capital needed for the forward auction.
Speaker Blessing Agbebaku read the governor’s signed request letter to the legislature during plenary.
The letter’s goal, according to Okpebholo, was to alert the Assembly and ask for permission to join 35 other states in recouping the money owed to them from the Project Gazelle Afrexim loan.
The Speaker said, “There is a need to support and grant the request of the governor, as the funds will aid the socioeconomic development in the states.”
In a voice vote, the lawmakers granted the governor’s request to hire the consultant in order to get the loan back. In the meantime, the People’s Democratic Party has taken over as the state House of Assembly’s minority party.
This came about as a result of four lawmakers defecting to the All Progressives Congress on March 12, 2025—three from the PDP and one from the Labour Party. The APC now has 13 members while the PDP has 11, according to the Assembly’s new configuration.
Yekini Idiaye was appointed minority whip, and Charity Aiguobarueghian was nominated for minority leader in a letter to the House dated April 8, 2025. The Assembly’s immediate-past majority leader is Airobarueghian.
