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.It’s height of political vendetta –Govt
Fred Itua, Abuja, with online reports
Senate has rejected Kaduna State’s $350 million World Bank loan request.
All three Senators from Kaduna, Shehu Sani, Suleiman Hukunyi, Danjuma La’ah and Bala Ibn Na’Allah, kicked against the loan and added that approving the loan request for the state will further impoverish the people.
Senator Shehu Sani made reference to a Debt Management Office (DMO) report and noted that Kaduna is the second most indebted state in the country.
Senate took the decision based on the recommendations of its committee on Local and Foreign Debts on Kaduna State Development Policy Operation (DPO) Credit Facility of $350 million, after the chairman of the panel, Sani, presented the report in the chamber, yesterday.
Said Sani: “Based on the submissions and interactions with invited government officials, the committee observed that the DPO (Budget Support) of $350 million for Kaduna State was approved by the World Bank in 2016 and captured in 2016 to 2018 borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly.
“The credit facility has an attractive low financing data of 1.25 percent interest; moratorium of five years and a 25-year maturity tenor. The facility is already captured in the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
“According to the latest DMO figures, Kaduna has a total debt stock of $232.1 million. Approving the current loan request of $350 million for the state will bring its total debt stock to $582.1 million.
“If this loan request is approved, the new total debt stock of $582.1 million for Kaduna will be unsustainable and (would) necessarily attract huge financial burden on the meagre federal allocation to the state.”
The committee specifically recommended “that Senate do reject Kaduna State’s DPO request of $350 million for Kaduna State as contained in the 2015, 2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan of Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
“With the high total debt stock of Kaduna State at the moment, the new borrowing sought will make the debt service to revenue ratio high, thereby, worsening the state government’s ability to meet its other basic obligations to the people and further erode the economic viability of the state,” Sani said in his concluding remarks.
When the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided at plenary, subjected the issue to a voice vote, lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected the loan request.
In its reaction, the state government described the rejection as the height of political vendetta.
The state government spoke through the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Muhammad Abdullah, yesterday night.
“The people of the state will be affected because the loan was meant to cater for every person in the state. It’s quite sad and surprising that senators from the state ganged up against an opportunity for the state to develop.”
Last year, Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai said government would deploy part of the loan to equip schools in the state.
