TheCable

Salihu Lukman, a former vice-chair of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the north-west, says Uba Sani, governor of Kaduna, needs new initiatives to address the state’s “huge” debt profile.

On Saturday, Sani said he inherited a debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion and 115 contractual liabilities from the administration of Nasir el-Rufai, a former governor of the state.

This prompted criticism of the governor by Bashir el-Rufai, son of the former governor, who said Sani is “always sleeping in Abuja”.

In a statement on Sunday, Lukman said every member of the APC in Kaduna must take responsibility for the “bad situation” facing the state.

The former director-general of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) said Sani needs to set up a committee to review current challenges and recommend what needs to be done both in the short, medium, and long term.

“Without any excuse, all of us in APC in Kaduna must take responsibility for the bad situation facing the state,” he said.

“In taking responsibility, we must appeal to Mallam Uba Sani to take every necessary step to undertake inventory of the debt of the state and how it was utilised. Part of what is needed now very urgently is to assess whether there are cases of diversion, which if established should be recovered.

“More substantively, there is the need to come up with new initiatives towards mobilising new resources for the state. Resolving the challenge of today’s huge debt burden requires new initiatives beyond what is currently being undertaken.

“Mallam Uba needs to set up a committee to review current challenges and recommend what needs to be done both in the short, medium, and long term. This is more about producing a blueprint that will guide initiatives of the government across all sectors to address the challenge.

“For instance, being a largely agrarian state that is riddled with insecurity, boosting agricultural production is contingent on securing the farms.

“Already, one of the steps taken by the young administration of Mallam Uba is to recruit additional 7,000 personnel into the Kaduna State Vigilance Service (KADVIS).”

Lukman said the people around the governor and el-Rufai may not be helping matters on the debt issue of the state.