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From: Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The Kano State Government has confirmed that it accessed a total of N9 billion overdraft facility to pay salaries and allowances of its workers ahead of the recent Sallah celebrations.
The government held that only N10.7 million was paid as interest for the facility which was sourced at the rate of 14 per cent and 15 per cent from two banks as against N1.3 billion that was being peddled by the opposition
Speaking, on Thursday, during a press briefing in the state , Commissioner for Finance, Prof. Kabiru Isa Dandag,o and his counterpart in the Ministry of Information, Mallam Mohammed Garba, explained that the decision to take the facility for the month of May was informed by the need to ensure that civil servants in the state accessed their salaries before the religious festival
According to the Commissioner for Finance, the utilisation period for the overdraft was only from the time the amount was collected by the treasury to the time the state and Local government share from the Federation Account drops into the accounts management for the state.
He explained that Kano State government was committed to the payment of salaries and allowances of its workers adding that the decision to access the overdraft was not just guided by the interest of the workers alone but by other financial parameters, especially the multiplier effects of the payment.
According to him, if the workers were paid on time, they would be able to go to the market and buy. That way the traders in the market would be able to sell and be in a position to patronize the manufacturers. This would improve the internally generated revenue of the state.
He disclosed that the internally generated revenue from the PAYE in the state stood at N300 million while pointing out that it made sense to pay an N10 .7 million for a facility in order to be in a position to access a tax of N300 million.
He accused those peddling the purported figure as mischief makers and said the government would not be distracted by them.
