Abdullahi Ganduje Rejects Claims of Debt Servicing, Blames Administration for Scandals
A recent report by the Kano State Debt Management Office (DMO) claiming that ₦62 billion loan secured by Ganduje’s administration has been serviced has been rejected by the former Governor of Kano State.
In a statement, Muhammad Garba, the Chief of Staff to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), described the claim as misleading and a calculated attempt to shift attention from the numerous political and financial scandals plaguing the administration.
Garba, a former Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs in Kano state, argued that not all the debts listed by the state DMO were incurred by the APC government. He noted that while the administration had borrowed money, as is true for any government in Nigeria, the claims made by the DMO were not accurate.
The Chief of Staff went on to list several loans secured by the state, including foreign loans from as far back as 1992, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, and 2018. These loans included the Multi-state Road Project, Malaria Control Booster Project, State Education Sector Project, and others.
Garba also highlighted that some of these loans were secured not during the Ganduje administration, but during previous administrations. He listed several examples, including Commercial Agriculture Development Project, Erosion and Watershed Management Project, and the Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project.
The Chief of Staff also mentioned that the Ganduje administration had secured loan for the Kano State Agro Processing, Productivity, Enhancement project, which is currently being implemented by the present administration, as well as the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing project, Infrastructure Loan, Excess Crude Account loan, and Budget Support loan.
Garba’s statement seems to be a response to the Kano DMO’s claim that the Ganduje administration had serviced a significant portion of the state’s debt. Instead, he is calling attention to the numerous scandals and debts inherited by the administration.
