The former Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje has rejected claims made by the Kano Debt Management Office (DMO) regarding the servicing of foreign and domestic debts.
Naija News reports that the Kano DMO had earlier claimed that it had serviced ₦62bn loan secured by Ganduje’s administration.
Reacting to the claim on Tuesday night, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain insisted not all the debts listed by the state DMO were incurred by the APC government.
A statement by the former Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs in Kano state and now, the Chief of Staff to the National Chairman of the APC, Muhammad Garba, said the debt claim is misleading and a calculated attempt to shift attention from the myriads of political and financial scandals rocking the administration in the state.
Garba argued that the claim which was credited to the Director General, Kano State DMO, Hamisu Sadi Ali is not only deceiving to the administration he serves, but also unbecoming of a public servant heading one of the most sensitive organs of government.
Garba, noted that, while it is true that like any other government in Nigeria, the Ganduje administration had borrowed money, he however stressed that not all the debts listed by the state Debt Management Office were incurred by the APC government.
The Chief of Staff also observed that the current debt portfolios of Kano state from foreign loans listed by the DMO were secured in 1992, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015 and 2018.
Garba added that these loans included the Multi-state Road Project 11/11/1992 XDR 26,212,376.50; Malaria Control Booster Project 10/10/2007 XDR 11,550,000; State Education Sector Project 6/11/2008 XDR 9,991,875; Third National Fadama Project 16/07/2009 XDR 4,818,310.00 and Health System Development Project II 08/04/2009 XDR 2,313,697.80.
He also listed other loans secured not during the Ganduje administration that included Commercial Agriculture Development Project 16/07/2009 XDR 17,670,000.00; Malaria Control Booster Project (Additional F.) 21/06/2010 XDR 5,927,445.10; Erosion and Watershed Management Project N/A USD 5,000,000.00.
The former commissioner asserted that loans signed by the APC government included the subsidiary loan agreement for the Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project of about 64 million Euros with the French Development Agency, which was signed in July 018.
Garba noted that the project was halted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now set for implementation by the present administration in the state.
“Initially, the NNPP government was bragging about this project until the media traced the project to the APC administration, then they started denying securing the loan,” he lamented.
The Chief of Staff said another project which the APC government secured loan for their execution is the Kano State Agro Processing, Productivity, Enhancement P. N/A USD 36,847,000.00 on which the present administration has been implementing for the benefits of the teeming populace.
He stated further that there was also Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing P. N/A EUR 3,500,000.00; Infrastructure Loan; Excess Crude Account (ECA) November, 2015 ₦10,000,000,000 Access Bank; Salary Bail-out November, 2015 ₦20,000,000,000 Fidelity Bank and Budget Support-₦17,569,000,000.