Niger State Governor Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has said that his government is not leading the state into a debt trap as a result of the loans? acquired? since he came to office in 2007.
He said yesterday at the inauguration of 283 fuel subsidy removal palliative vehicles in Minna that the government had been very meticulous in the repayment of any loan collected since he came to office.
While saying that some of the loans were liquidated within the first six months that the loans? were secured,? he explained that the first facility taken by the government was for the settlement of outstanding N1.4 billion pensions and gratuities, backlogs which was settled within six months.
The governor emphasised that the N6b bond taken by the government for the construction of major roads in the state had been repaid and the projects had been completed as specified.
Aliyu explained that the N9b bond facility just acquired had been paid up to the quarter of the amount even when the projects the money was meant to finance have not fully commenced.
He however lamented the paucity of fund in the state and said that, “ in March this year, the state got N4billion only from the statutory allocation , after deductions of salaries and pensions, my commissioner of finance told me that we were left with the balance of N600m till the month of April”.?
Governor Aliyu said the 283 vehicles were purchased in partnership with the Union Bank of Nigeria PLC that provided the funding for the project.
According to him many of the vehicles would go to the National Union of Road Transport Workers while the rest would be used to boost the fleet of the Niger State Transport Authority and Vehicle Inspection Unit of the state.
The State Government also purchased some tricycles at the cost of N32 million to be used as ambulances in the rural areas of the state through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programme.