Matawalle Drained Zamfara State’s Resources Within 4 Years – Commissioner

The Zamfara State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Abdulmalik Gajam, has accused the immediate former governor of the state, Bello Matawalle, of misappropriating the state’s resources during his tenure. In a video interview, Gajam highlighted significant neglect in essential sectors such as water, health, education, and the economy under Matawalle’s leadership but said that Matawalle, who is now the Minister of State Defence, spent as much as N50 million on massage chairs Gajam referenced statistics from Analysts Data Services and Resources (ADSR), indicating Zamfara State ranked poorly among other Nigerian states. According to the data, Zamfara fared poorly in economic output, importation, business competition, industrialization, healthcare, education, and ICT, ranking at or near the bottom across these sectors. “We met Zamfara State in security crisis. When we talk about economic output, Zamfara is 32 out of 37. Importation, Zamfara is 32 out of 37, business competition and industrialization, Zamfara is 35 over 37. “When we talk about healthcare, Zamfara is 26 out of 37, when we talk about education, Zamfara is 30 out of 37. When we talk about ICT, Zamfara is 34. This is based on the statistics that were done by ADSR, the scorecard of the Nigerian states. “Overall, the average mark was 45 but Zamfara State was under 40. We were 36 over 37. That means we are last, we’re taking the Z status,” Mr Gajam said. He said that the state is facing a debt servicing burden of over N30 billion, and the current administration has paid over N20 billion to date. Furthermore, Gajam accused Matawalle’s administration of mishandling funds intended for healthcare services, resulting in a lack of equipment, manpower, planning, and policy in primary healthcare centres. Mr Gajam accused Mr Matawalle’s administration of misappropriating money meant for healthcare services in the state. “There is nothing to show in healthcare. Even those primary healthcare centres when you go around now you can’t even take animals into those structures. You built a primary healthcare centre with World Bank money and did substandard work. At the end of the day, there is no equipment, no manpower, there is no planning and no policy. “We still have emergencies in Mafara Local Government, in Anka Local Government, children are dying of cholera. “We don’t have a functioning education system. What will amaze you is the idea that the past administration spent three years without paying for WAEC or NECO for our students. “The past administration spent more than 15 billion in naira in the Government House alone and now if you go to Zamfara State there is no government office that’s functioning; we’re even renovating them. They bought massage chairs of 50 – 50 million naira when people were hungry, when they were dying of insecurity and illiteracy and malnutrition,” he said. The commissioner said Mr Matawalle also failed to construct roads. He said the former governor didn’t build any road as long as five kilometres in the four years he was in office.” “The legacy the past governor left: he bought Hilux vehicles and dashed them away to bandits. The evidence is there. He was giving asylum to bandits in the Government House. People that killed…even in the barbaric era, there had never been a time where an Emir or a king would give asylum to somebody that kills people,” Mr Gajam added. He highlighted the previous government’s failure to pay for WAEC or NECO examinations for students, spending over N15 billion in the Government House while essential government offices remained non-functional and under renovation. Additionally, Gajam criticized the lack of road construction during Matawalle’s tenure, emphasizing that the former governor failed to build any road exceeding five kilometers. Gajam also alleged that the previous governor purchased Hilux vehicles and gave them to bandits, providing asylum to individuals involved in criminal activities. These allegations depict a state of disarray and mismanagement during Matawalle’s governance, creating a situation where essential public services were severely neglected while financial resources were reportedly misused.

IGR: Lagos Leads Other States With N651.1bn, Rivers N172.8bn  

*FCT Generates N124,366,774,519.25 Lagos states led other states of the federation in the amount of internally generated revenue in 2022, according to the IGR report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Lagos, Rivers, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) stood out as the leading states in terms of IGR, ranking in  impressive amounts of N651,145,633,085.30, N172,823,232,535.44, and N124,366,774,519.25, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum, Kebbi, Taraba, and Yobe were the least successful in generating revenue, managing to collect only N9,146,249,907.83, N10,238,110,125.95, and N10,456,776,796.18, respectively. Collectively, the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) managed to generate a total of N1,925,612,626,650.76 as IGR in 2022. This represented a modest growth of 1.57 per cent when compared to the N1,895,786,762,263.80 generated in the previous year, 2021. The report further stated that the revenue for 2022 came from taxes, including various types, and the income generated by different government departments and agencies. The total revenue collected across all states and the FCT increased slightly compared to the previous year. According to the report, the main source of revenue for the year was the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax, contributing a significant 67.62 per cent to the total tax revenues generated across the country. The report also stated that capital gains tax, on the other hand, played a much smaller role, accounting for only 0.24 per cent of the total tax revenue. In terms of local government area (LGA) revenue, Oyo, Lagos, and Jigawa emerged as the top three states. They reported impressive figures of N11,832,437,020.33, N11,505,586,283.35, and N8,700,993,591.78, respectively. The NBS report also noted that in the year 2022, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was primarily driven by two major sources: taxes and revenue from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

SFTAS: Gombe State Attracts N26bn World Bank Grants In 4 Years – Commissioner

Gombe State received N26 billion as grants on its achievements under the performance-based grant component of the World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme in four years. The Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Mr Muhammad Magaji, made this known in Gombe shortly after the inaugural State Executive Council meeting. Magaji said that the grants were attracted as a result of the Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme reforms implemented in the state. “The various reforms initiated by the Gov. Inuwa Yahaya made the state transparent enough to attract such grants. “The grant has helped the state government execute a good number of projects from infrastructure to improved healthcare amongst others which had impacted positively on the lives of the people of the state. “We were able to implement the SFTAS reforms and earned over N26 billion for Gombe State in grants. “The grant is between 2019 and 2023, that’s the first administration of Gov. Yahaya and it had helped in executing good projects for the benefits of the people,” he said. This, he said, means Gombe state is more transparent, accountable and whatever we are doing is out in the public for people to see and we are not hiding any skeleton. “We have initiated reforms and abided by them. Our account books are there for everyone to see according to the national chart of accounts. “We publish our annual accounts for the state government. Our budgets are in order and also published on time and regularly for everyone to see.” He also added that the state government had adopted the SFTAS requirements that ensured that the state cleared up its arrears while paying contractors on time. The commissioner said the reforms had essentially helped the state government to continue to move forward in the transparency index. “We were also able to reform a lot of areas in governance and we achieved a lot making Gombe the first in ease of doing business, ranking Gombe in the transparency index from 36 to number seven. Magaji said that the state government going forward would concentrate efforts at driving in more investments that would lead to establishment of industries and creation of jobs for youths in the state. The SFTAS programme is a hybrid with two components of activities that support Nigerian states to achieve the key result areas of the programme. These are a performance-based financing component for state governments, which will be implemented as a PforR; and a technical assistance (TA) component for states and selected national-level institutions, which will be implemented as an investment project financing (IPF). The programme also supports the full and sustained implementation of a strategic subset of reforms from the FSP and the open government partnership (OGP) commitments that are implemented at the state-level. The programme also provides performance-based financing on an annual basis to states which have been verified through the annual performance assessments (APA) as having: (1) complied with the annual eligibility criteria; and (2) achieved the annual disbursement linked results. 

I Inherited N359bn Debt From Past Administration –Gov Alia

Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia on Sunday disclosed that his administration inherited the sum of N359 billion as debt from the past administration in the state. Alia disclosed this at an interdenominational church service to commemorate Nigeria’s 63rd independence anniversary. The church service was organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Benue State Chapter, at the Methodist Cathedral, South Bank, Makurdi. The governor, who is a Catholic priest, said that in spite of the debt burden, he was determined to reposition the state by providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. “God has accomplished his work, and it is now left for us to make our state and nation to work. I am here to make things work. “What we inherited was nothing to be proud of, but we will do what will make us all proud. I inherited over N359bn debt,” he said. He regretted that the state lost billions of Naira worth of agricultural produce and other property to herders’ attacks on farmers. He said that the farmers must be supported to do their job well. Alia said that the condition of rural dwellers following incessant herders’ attacks and fuel subsidy removal had become worrisome. He said that his administration would find ways to support farmers by providing seedlings, fertilisers and other forms of support to enable them to work effectively in the coming farming season. “My colleagues call me the governor of the richest state in Nigeria and I agree with them because we have numerous mineral deposits, we have the best yams and soyabeans, among others. “We will create billionaires in the state through our farms. We have everything it takes to do it.” Alia ordered the immediate end to illegal mining in the state. “The foreigners illegally mining gold in Kwande, Logo, Konshisha LGAs and other places in the state should desist from it immediately. This is an order,” he said. He said that God blessed the state and the entire Nigeria abundantly and it was left for the leaders to make things to work. He decried the spate of kidnapping and other criminal activities in the state, pledging to tackle them. The governor said that the future of the state lied in the hands of the youth, adding that his administration was training 10,000 youths in information technology for improved digital knowledge. Alia gave the assurance that his administration would not accommodate corruption and nepotism. The governor appealed to Benue sons and daughters to support the state in any way they could.

Taraba State and oppositions to Gov Kefas’ planned N206bn loan

I’m compelled to put up this rejoinder in a bid to the ongoing effort by the Executive Governor of Taraba State Dr. Agbu Kefas to access some loan to the tune of N206, 776,000,000, from the commercial banks. One concerned citizen of the State, Mallam Abdulluhi Umar has petitioned the Acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria Mr. Folashdun Shounbi not to grant the loan to the Taraba state government. At the same time, he also urged the Acting CBN Governor to immediately instruct the affected commercial banks to suspend any consideration of granting the requested loan facilities. The petitioner noted that he was worried and concerned because the loan facilities being sought by the state Government were characterized by the brazen violations of subsisting laws of Nigeria guiding the process of the loan application by the various tiers of Government. Mallam Umar cautioned the relevant agencies to investigate the loan process. Umar the petitioner writing through his Counsel, Parlance law office in Garki Abuja, in an 8 pages letter dated 9th August 2023, stated that he was bringing the information to the attention of the Acting CBN Governor for immediate investigation and to daunt all banks involved in the process. Copied in the petition were President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Senate President, the Speaker of House of Representative, the Federal Ministry of Finance, other agencies copied are the Ministry of Justice, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, EFCC Chairman and the NFIU, among others. The petitioner further alleged that the recent loan facilities requested by the state Government from the commercial banks was hasty, ill-conceived, a wasteful venture, that the loan is politically motivated to consolidate power of an embattled Governor, facing challenges to his petition in court, and an attempt by the Governor to put the State in a state of perpetual servitude of paying debts beyond its means and penury under the guise of embarking on purported developmental activities. Ironically, this is uncalled for, a laughable, pathetic and antagonist from the petitioner, that is an enemy of the state. He should know that this is a new administration that just came on board and needed to fulfill all the campaign promises to the state to enable the new Government progress and achieve its tremendous project within and outside the state.  It’s not business as usual, from the former regime. This Government is committed with a lot of projects to execute in many areas, before his 100 days in office and they include tourism, transportation, health, Agriculture and Education among others to be mentioned.  The loan facilities are needed to achieve some of the projects stipulated above to meet its goals and objectives.  The Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas had on 2nd July 2023, written to the Taraba State House Assembly seeking approval to enable the state Government access loan facilities worth the sum of N206 billion only from four commercial banks he explained. The letter was read by the speaker of the house, Honorable John Kirito Bonzena, on the floor of the parliament and subsequently, it was promptly approved by the state house of assembly. The petitioner claimed the move is hasty and ill-advised. The four commercial banks involved in the loan application and their respective loan amounts are as follows; Zenith Bank Plc (83,300,000,000. only) UBA Plc (50,000,000,000. only) Fidelity Bank Plc (50,000,000,000. Only) Keystone Bank Plc (23, 000, 000, 000.  Only).  In addition, the Governor stated that the security for the loan facility from Zenith Bank Plc shall be deducted from the FAAC allocation to Taraba State. While that for the facility from UBA Plc shall be deducted from JAAC belonging to the Taraba State. Furthermore, he stressed that the security loan facility from Fidelity Bank Plc shall be deducted from VAT accruable to Taraba State and finally, the security for the facility from Keystone Bank shall be deducted from Taraba State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) The Governor explained further, that the total rate of the facilities shall be 23% in total, comprising 18% interest and 5% administrative charges deductible upfront, and the tenor of the listed facilities is four (4) years only. Meanwhile the petitioner in his words questioned that the loan facilities and its unfavorable conditions were yet to be fully disclosed to the state house assembly by the ministry of Finance, Budget and planning. The petitioner stresses that the Governor has hotly contested the ongoing litigation at the Taraba Governorship election Tribunal that is yet to deliver its Judgment. Also, he said that the loan amount can be easily diverted to other projects unconnected with what the loan was meant for since the position of the current Government is shaky and may be set aside by the court, His concern was how would the Government repay the huge loans granted to the State? The petitioner is an attention seeker that want to be recognize in a public domain, I could see his frustration, haven’t lost woefully to the People Democratic Party (PDP) with a wild margin, the petitioner is looking for all means to antagonize the present government not to achieved his campaign promise to the good people of the state is a bad omen. Mallam Umar, the Governorship election petition in court is dead on arrival that has no merit, the curtain has been drawn a long time ago, the litigation is a baseless one, nothing good will come out of the petition. I would like to make clear that having litigations going on in a court of law has nothing to do with Governmental activities, Government is a continuing process, with or without the loan Taraba would progress beyond expectations. The Governor Kefas administration is determined to see Taraba state moving to the right direction in terms of development. He was working tirelessly inviting foreign investors to come and invest in Taraba, the God given state that has a lot of natural resources to compete with the rest of the world to showcase Taraba state around the globe. Dr. Agbu Kefas the Executive Governor of the

Buni approves N667m for payment of pensioners

Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni has approved the payment of N667 million to 475 pensioners across the 17 local government areas of the state. The approval is contained in a statement by Buni’s Director-General Press and Media Affairs, Alhaji Mamman Mohammed, in Damaturu on Friday. He said the approval followed a screening and verification of the pensioners by a committee earlier constituted by the state government. “The committee has verified a total of 475 beneficiaries and hereby attached lists of beneficiaries and summary according to local government areas for both living and deceased pensioners,” Mohammed said. He assured that the state government would settle all outstanding pensions owed retired workers in the state.