By Fola James
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje is under fire again, this time from his own people, over his government plans to borrow a whopping N300 billion from the Peoples’ Republic of China.
The state’s helmsman almost lost his re-election last year after a video, where he purportedly bribed a contractor working for his goverment, went viral.
Another trouble appears to be brewing in ancient city after some respected Kano Elders, led by Bashir Tofa, petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari to stop their governor from mortgaging the future of their children in his quest to obtain a loan from the communist country.
Tofa, recall was the presidential candidate of defunct National Republican Convention, NRC who hardly dabbles into local politics.
But his group, the Kano Unity Forum, in the petition to the president, expressed serious condemnation by the state government to obtain the loan from the China Development Bank to construct phase 1 component of Light Mono Rail project in the State Metropolis.
The elders said they are more worried that the details of the loan have been a close guarded secret because “save for few in official circles, nobody else knows the terms and conditions of the loan agreement”, apart from the fact that “the exact amount being borrowed is shrouded in secrecy.
The Elders said the loan is a misplaced priority for the Governor Ganduje-led government, which should pay attention to other critical sectors that would benefit the people of the state more.
According to them “A 1st Phase of the project costing Over N300 Billion, or maybe even the N828 Billion mentioned by others, coming mostly from a foreign loan is mind-boggling, to say the least. A rethink is not only needed but necessary.
“Based on the analysis of the present indebtedness of Kano State as provided for by the Debt Management Office, DMO Nigeria, it is extremely difficult, almost impossible for Kano State to sustain any indebtedness beyond the current liability portfolio of the state.
It needs to be noted that a rail project is never a project to be put in haste as we observed that it is neither in the medium nor long term plans of the State Government. “If indeed the Chinese want to genuinely help with cheap loans, they should be requested to support critical sectors such as education, health, agriculture, power, science and technology, infrastructure, industry, and water supply.”
They also warned the government from worsening the rate of poverty in the state by taking a foreign loan.
“Kano Unity Forum would not give any self-serving politician the latitude to increase poverty and deprivation within the general public through ill-conceived public works,” the Elders said.
