Sokoto Gov Denies Taking 489 million dollars Loan
BY ANKELI EMMANUEL,Sokoto. ,
With few days to completing one year in office, governor, Ahmed Aliyu has denied taking any loan to execute projects in the Sokoto state .
The governor, in a statement by his spokesperson, Abubakar Bawa said an earlier report by BBC listing Sokoto amongst norther States that have collected loan lately was misleading.
Stressing that his administration has not collected any local or international loan since becoming the governor, Ahmed Aliyu urged media houses to maintain their integrity by balancing stories before going public.
“Let me make it categorically clear that i have never taken any loan from anybody since we came on board.
” I was shocked when i heard my State being listed among the northern States that have collected foreign loan in order to develop their States.
‘”The BBC report was indeed misleading, and i expect them to verify the information they claimed to have gotten from the Debt Management service before going on air.
“I challenge any individual or body that has any record where we applied or received any foreign or local loans to produce the document.
” You can’t take loan without following certain procedures including seeking approval from your State lawmakers, in our case there is nothing like that,”he declared.
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Clarifying on the projects executed and those ongoing across the states, the governor said they. were funded through the monthly allocation from the federation account or the money realized from State internally generated revenue.
“For now, we don’t need any loan before we execute projects because we are managing the little resources of the State very well,” he said.
It could be recalled that the BBC Hausa service earlier on Monday reported that Sokoto State government is among the Northern States that have taken foreign loans to execute developmental projects..
The report by BBC noted that Sokoto state government under the leadership of governor Ahmed Aliyu had so far taken a foreign loan amounting to 489 million dollars.
