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DPP lauds Senate for rejecting $350m loan application by Kaduna govt

The Democratic People’s Party (DPP) on Wednesday praised the Senate for rejecting the 350 million dollars loan application by the Kaduna State Government. The National…

The Democratic People’s Party (DPP) on Wednesday praised the Senate for rejecting the 350 million dollars loan application by the Kaduna State Government.

The National Chairman of the party, Mr Garshon Benson, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the rejection of the loan application was in the interest of people and future of the state.

“My party’s view is that the National Assembly acted very well by rejecting that loan application from Kaduna State, under the leadership of Gov. El Rrufai.

“From the information available to all of us, the National Assembly made us to know that Kaduna state is the second worse debtor states in the federation indebted to the tune of over 200 million dollars

“So adding more debt is not the best for the people of Kaduna state.

“We had expected Gov. El Rufai, given his wealth of experience in public life, to have tried to open up alternative sources of revenue for his state and increasing the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

“That will have reduced the pressure of lack of funds on the state and make more funds available for development.

“So, I praise the courage of the Senate Committee that did the job and the position of the entire Senate.’’


The Senate recently rejected the request by the Kaduna State Government to obtain a $350 million loan from the World Bank.

The three Senators from the state, Shehu Sani, APC, Kaduna Central; Suleiman Hunkuyi, APC, KadunaNorth and La’ah Danjuma, PDP, Kaduna South said that it became imperative for the credit facility to be rejected because critical stakeholders from the state were never consulted and for the fact that the fact that the state was already heavily indebted.

Benson said that the action of the Senate had saved Kaduna state and its economy from increased indebtedness.

He, therefore, advised Nigerians not to see the rejection of the loan application as political vendetta.

He said if the loan was approved, those that would suffer the consequences would be the unborn children of the state.

“It is our view that Kaduna can raise its Internally Generated Revenue in such a way that they can take care of salary payment without touching their federal allocation.

“If the state can generate IGR to pay salary, it will have a lot of money left over to meet other developmental needs.’’

Benson also advised other state governors to take proactive measures to increase their revenue base rather that increasing their debt profile.

He said that one of the reasons most states’ debt profiles were increasing was that political office holders failed to adequately prepare for the positions they were occupying.

“Before you want to be a governor, president or Local Government chairman, you should be able to conduct research to know how healthy is the state you want to run in terms of economic viability.

“How much is the salary wage bill per month? How much is the state of liquidation? What per month is income that comes to the state, both from federal and IGR.’’

“Most of them are not prepared. That is why some of them would want to add to the existing debt, rather than thinking of how to reduce or add value to the income of the state.’’ (NAN)

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