KANO, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Kano State transition committee headed by the new deputy governor, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, has said the outgone administration of Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso left behind a debt burden of over N100 billion.
Hafizu made the revelation yesterday while handing over findings of the transition committee.
He added that Kwankwaso was leaving behind a log of 2,715 ongoing projects valued at about N313 billion.
Hafizu handed over the findings of the transition committee to the new governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
He noted that with the dwindling federal allocation and lack of aggressive approach to revenue generation at the local government level in the state, the incoming government was confronted with the burden of how to source funding to offset the debt incurred by the state.
He said Kwankwaso in 2011 inherited 671 uncompleted projects from his predecessor, Ibrahim Shekarau, and that N40 billion was exhausted in paying certain portion of the debts inherited that government.
He, however, stated that Kwankwaso successfully completed 4,019 projects at the cost of N140 billion.
He said the state workforce as at May 28 stood at 143,300, and pegged the state government’s recurrent and capital expenditure at N418.168 billion from May 2011 – May 2015.
He stated that Kwankwaso’s four years in governance incurred total receipts of N419.075 billion, with a recurrent and capital expenditure of N418.168 billion.
He also decried the unimpressive revenue generation, urging the incoming governor to inform Kano populace on the true situation of things in the state because “what happens to the country will rub off on the state.”
He expressed fear that Kano with an Internally Generated Revenue strength of about N2 billion monthly would need to take serious palliative measures to bridge the huge financial gap.
However, Governor Umar Ganduje applauded the transition committee for what he described as a report that would serve as a guide, inspiration and precaution to his administration.
He disclosed that a new committee would be set up to take a more detailed critical look into the submissions of the transition committee in efforts to address the challenges identified by the Hafizu Abubakar-led committee.
Credit: National Mirror (Nigeria)
