Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State and the lawmaker representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Sani, have traded words over the Kaduna State government’s $350m World Bank loan request which was declined by the Senate on Thursday.
Both el-Rufai and Sani took to their social media accounts on Friday to express their opposing views on the rejection.
The Senate had declined the request based on the recommendation of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, a move which was supported by the three senators from Kaduna State.
The committee had recommended that the facility should be disapproved as it would worsen the debt profile of the state.
Sani, who is the committee chairman, while presenting the report of the committee on the loan, had also said if the loan facility was approved, the people of the state who were 50 years old would be 75 years old by the end of the repayment tenure.
He added that while the debt profile of Kaduna State was $232.1m between 1960 and 2018, the state’s debt stock would rise to $582.1m under el-Rufai’s administration alone.
The other two lawmakers from Kaduna State, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi (APC, Kaduna-North) and Danjuma La’ah (PDP, Kaduna-South), had also expressed their outright opposition to the request and criticised el-Rufai’s administration.
Speaking on his social media accounts on Friday, Sani said, “If you borrow money that you can pay (back), you are a businessman; if you borrow money that you can’t pay (back), you are a slave.
“They will leave for their children mansions to inherit; they will leave for your children debt to inherit.
“They will leave for their children credit to inherit; they will leave for your children debit to inherit.
“They want to auction the children of the poor to Mr. Breton Woods in order to secure a comfortable life for their children.”
The governor later took to his official Facebook page to describe Sani, Hunkuyi and La’ah as the clog in the wheel of progress of Kaduna State.
He said, “Having checked our laws, our accounts and our performance, the World Bank was convinced that Kaduna State merits their support.
“Therefore, on June 20, 2017, the World Bank announced that it had decided to provide a budget support facility of $350m to Kaduna State, but the three senators from Kaduna State blocked this opportunity to provide decent investments in human capital development.
“The good people of Kaduna State should recognise the people who are clogs to the progress of the state.”
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