Shehu Sani, a former Senator who represented Kaduna Central, has stated that if he had been listened to when he opposed former governor Nasir El-Rufai’s acquisition of loans, Kaduna State would not have found itself in its current multi-million dollar debt burden.
Shehu Sani stated this while commenting on the statements made by Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani.
The Governor had mentioned that his administration inherited a significant debt of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 billion Contractual Liabilities from the previous administration. This debt burden has made it difficult for the current administration to pay salaries.
Governor Uba Sani had said during a Town Hall Meeting on Saturday, March 30, that the huge debt burden was eating deep into the State’s Federal Allocation. 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 him, seven 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.
Reacting, Sani told newsmen that he was insulted for rejecting the $350 million World Bank loan request by the then El-Rufai administration, 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…”
He continued: “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.”
