Kaduna Governor Uba Sani (right) with his predecessor, Nasir el-Rufai
Kaduna : I inherited $587m, N85bn debt from El-Rufai’s govt — Gov Sani
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State on Saturday, lamented the huge debt inherited from his predecessor on May 29, 2023, saying that the state is now left with a few amounts, not enough to pay salary.
The governor stated this while addressing a Town Hall Meeting at the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Hall, Kaduna.
He added that his administration inherited a total of $587million, N85billion, and 115 contract liabilities from the ex-governor.
He said that despite the fact he had yet to borrow money in the last nine months of his government, noting that the huge debt burden was eating deep into the state’s Federal Allocation.
The governor stressed that due to the rise in the exchange rate, he was paying back almost triple of what was borrowed by the administration of Nasir El-Rufai.
According to him, N7billion out of the N10billion Federal Allocation for the state in March was used to service debt.
The governor also touched on the key priority areas of his government, including security, housing, education, healthcare and support for micro, small and medium enterprises.
The Commissioner of Finance, Shizzer Bada, made a presentation on what the state gets from the federal allocation and what is being deducted from it to service the huge debt left by the past administration.
While his Budget and Planning counterpart, Muktar Ahmed, touched on the number of contractual liabilities whereby contractors engaged by the former government abandoned projects after collecting money.
Notwithstanding the huge debt burden he inherited, coupled with the number of contractual liabilities, Governor Sani assured the people that he would keep his eyes on the ball in steering the state towards the part of progress and sustainable development.
