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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Usman Shehu Bawa, has raised the alarm over what he described as the state’s N1 trillion public debt, warning that the burden could undermine essential services and sustainable development.
Bawa, who spoke yesterday during a policy dialogue organised by the Partnership for Issue-Based Campaign (PICaN) in Kaduna, promised to prioritise security, inclusive governance and accountability if elected in 2027.
“Currently, Kaduna State is in a debt trap. The total public debt of Kaduna State is N1 trillion.”
He said the debt burden, alongside poverty, poor learning outcomes and high healthcare costs, underscored the need for greater accountability in public borrowing and expenditure.
Citing figures during his presentation, Bawa put the state’s external debt at $684.29 million and its external debt-to-revenue ratio at 312.66 per cent, which he said exceeded a 150 per cent limit.
The debt figures and the limit cited by the candidate were not independently verified at the event.
Comparing the records of successive administrations, Bawa claimed that external debt rose from $226.37 million during the period he associated with PDP governments between 1999 and 2015 to $684.29 million under the All Progressives Congress (APC). He also put domestic debt for the respective periods at N49.85 billion and N84.64 billion.
Bawa said his proposed administration would draw its policies from the PDP manifesto, with emphasis on programmes that improve residents’ living conditions.
“I am a PDP candidate, and my manifesto is guided by the PDP manifesto,” he said. “I believe that if it is a PDP government, I will take those policies and make sure we actualise them. What we do in the PDP is to go by the manifesto of the party.”
Outlining his development agenda, Bawa promised to involve communities across the state’s 255 wards in identifying projects and determining spending priorities, saying direct consultation would help reduce waste and ensure that public resources addressed local needs.
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“Our approach is a bottom-up approach, not a top-bottom approach. We want to build the bridges in the exact wards that need those bridges, not build boreholes where you do not need them or build classrooms where you do not need them.”
Using a hypothetical N100 billion budget to illustrate his proposal, Bawa said resources would be allocated across the three senatorial zones, with stakeholders consulted on the most pressing needs of their communities.
He pledged fair distribution of resources and inclusive governance, saying building trust among Kaduna’s religious and social groups would be central to his administration.
The candidate identified security, healthcare, education, infrastructure, economic empowerment and institutional accountability as his priorities, saying improved security would enable residents to pursue their livelihoods and encourage investment.
He also promised to strengthen social protection, support small and medium-sized enterprises and promote agriculture, innovation and technology as part of a broader programme of economic development.
Bawa said the state needed a long-term development framework that would guide public investment beyond the tenure of one administration.
“I was thinking of doing 20 years or more because if you have a plan for a state, you have to use long projections and see how you plan within and beyond the government,” he said.
On project execution, he proposed a monitoring and evaluation system involving community, ward and local government committees, whose findings would feed into sector-level institutions and the state government’s central monitoring structure.
He said involving residents in monitoring projects would help identify implementation gaps, check the quality of contractors’ work and ensure that projects served their intended beneficiaries.
“Once you take a project to the community, one of the best ways to be sure that the work has been done is by involving the local people there.”
Bawa maintained that political will, community participation, long-term planning and budgets aligned with development priorities would be necessary to deliver his proposals.
