Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Sani advises governors against excessive borrowing

By Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna
03 June 2017   |   4:37 am
The Senate committee Chairman on Foreign and Domestic Debts, Shehu Sani has warned governors of the 36 states of the federation to desist from accumulating external and domestic loans...

Senator Shehu Sani

The Senate committee Chairman on Foreign and Domestic Debts, Shehu Sani has warned governors of the 36 states of the federation to desist from accumulating external and domestic loans, saying that the situation was becoming embarrassing and capable of plunging the states into a worse economic crisis.

He gave the advice in Kaduna, when youths from Zaria and other communities paid him a courtesy visit, while urging him to contest the 2019 governorship election amidst criticisms of Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s development agenda for the state.

Sani, who represents Kaduna central senatorial zone, said he was disturbed by the rate which state governors pile up foreign and domestic debts in their various states, saying there was need to halt the trend.

His words: “As Chairman of The Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, I worked on Nigeria’s debts. We have been able to work out a new strategy whereby a functional oversight activity could take place on how Nigeria borrows money.

“We have also been able to work on several loans request from the Federal Government as far as Eurobond is concerned. And that has been very much successful. It is very clear to us that Nigeria is today exiting the recession, but we must also warn that the level in which states are borrowing is becoming unbearable. And this must be seriously taken care off.”

Besides, Sani faulted northern states governors that have not been able to deploy available resources to uplift their citizens out of poverty and also impact development in their economies.

The lawmaker, who lamented the poor state of development in Kaduna State, pointed out that he was deeply concerned that the amount of money allocated to Kaduna State in the federal revenue allocation was not commensurate with the level of development in the state.

As such, there was need for the state government to account for how it intended to spend the Paris refund fund.

He said: “Hundreds of millions of dollars have been given to state governors but in Kaduna State, we don’t know where that money is going into. It is wrong for people to exaggerate their achievements and it is also wrong for people to belittle the achievements that have been made.

“President Muhammadu Buhari administration has been able to register achievements in the area of security and fight against corruption.

0 Comments