By Akinwale Kasali
Activist and former Senator who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 8th Senate, Shehu Sani, has disclosed that the debt burden Kaduna State found itself in is as a result of former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s administration.
He said that the acquisition of Loans by the El-Rufai administration plunged the State to its current quagmire of a multi-million dollar debt burden.
The reaction of Sani is as a result of the submission of Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, that his administration inherited a significant debt of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 billion Contractual Liabilities from the previous administration.
The Governor said that the debt burden has made it difficult for the current administration to pay salaries.
Sani said that he was insulted for antagonizing El Rufai when he made a – $350 million World Bank loan request by saying “the hour of reckoning has come for every citizen of the State.”
“I was insulted for saying no to that loan. The hour of reckoning is here for every person in Kaduna state.
“Just like the way Lot (in the Bible) warned people, prophets of the past warned people, but they refused to hear…
“In the same way, I warned the people of this state, but they were told that the money will bring paradise , land of milk and honey.
“ Today, you can see the problems at hand as far as that loan was concerned. If you look at what I said about this State, there has never been any of my predictions that has not come to pass.Today, the State is strangulated because of that money which we couldn’t pay,” he said.
He lamented that due to the rise in the exchange rate, Kaduna State is now paying back almost triple of what was borrowed by the previous administration of Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai.
According to the Governor, seven billion Naira out of the N10billion Federal Allocation for the Kaduna State in March, was deducted to service the State’s debt.
The Governor further lamented that the state was left with N3billion, an amount which is not enough to pay salary, as the State’s monthly salary bill stands at N5.2 billion.
