The Kano State Government has stated that it has paid over N63 billion and has denied allegations of borrowing N177 billion.
The Director General of the Kano State Debt Management Office, Dr. Hamisu Sadi Ali, made this known during an interactive session with journalists in Kano.
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to a malicious publication by an online newspaper that falsely claimed the Kano State Government, under the leadership of Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, received N177 billion as a loan from France.”
According to him, the Kano State Public Debt Management Law of 2021 clearly states that the State Debt Management Office shall, “subject to the provisions of the act, borrow on behalf of the government from any individual or institutional bodies.”
He emphasized that whenever the government intends to borrow from individuals or institutions, either domestically or otherwise, it must go through the State’s Public Debt Management Office.
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Dr. Ali alleged that the previous administration, led by Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of the APC, signed a subsidiary loan agreement for the Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project of about 64 million Euros with the French Development Agency in July 2018.
He noted that, unfortunately, this is the loan the online Hausa platform claimed was contracted during the current administration, questioning how 2018 could be mistaken for 2023 or 2024.
Dr. Ali urged the public to ignore the fake, malicious, and politically motivated news being spread by certain unscrupulous newspapers.
“As the person in charge of the State’s entire debt portfolio, I can confirm that, since the inception of Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf’s NNPP administration on May 29, 2023, no loans have been signed, contracted, or received by the Kano State Government from within or outside the country,” he said.
Dr. Ali also highlighted that “it is important to note that in an effort to reduce the debt burden of our dear State, Governor Yusuf has paid off external debts of about N3,491,137,226.73 and domestic debts of N60,016,887,353.57, totaling N63,508,024,580.03 for just the first and second quarters of 2024. With this development, our overall debt outstanding has been drastically reduced to N127,793,608,048.62 for both domestic and foreign liabilities.”
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