Daniel Bwala, a major promoter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government, has said that the huge debt left behind by the past administration of Kaduna State headed by Nasir El-Rufai was a deliberate way of making the state ungovernable.
On his X handle, Bwala said: “There are two ways a bad leader can make a state ungovernable; one is to promote or allow insecurity to thrive and the other is to leave a debt burden beyond states’ comprehension
“With a debt burden of $587 million Dollars, N85 billion Naira, and 115 Contractual Liabilities, the past administration of Kaduna State has made the state ungovernable
“May God help Governor Sani to find ways to govern Kaduna State.”
Recall that on March 30, the Kaduna state governor, Senator Uba Sani, lamented the huge debt burden inherited from the previous administration in the state, saying it had taken a toll on his government.
He said said the situation is such that the government will have to borrow to be able to pay workers salaries.
According to him, the debt burden includes $587m, N85b and N115b contractual liabilities, “sadly inherited from the previous administration”.
The governor however declared that despite the financial challenges, his administration remains resolute in steering the state towards progress and sustainable development.
Sani said Kaduna only receives N3.6 billion after deduction of N7.2 billion for debt servicing.
“What we received from the federal allocation in Kaduna this month was N3.6 billion out of over N10 billion. The sum of N7.5 billion was deducted from our allocation to service debts.
“We cannot pay salaries without borrowing. Our salary bill is N5.2 billion. We will have to borrow N2 billion to be able to pay salaries.”
Speaking further, the governor said he had approached President Bola Tinubu for assistance. “I have taken our cry to the President over these deductions. The President told me that the debt of $556 million is a World Bank debt and there is nothing he can do about it.
“He however promised to see how he could help us. Some of my governor colleagues have also promised to approach the President to assist Kaduna. In the next three months we will be collecting N3.6 billion from the federal allocation.”