Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna State Governor
Governor Nasiru El-Rufa’i of Kaduna state has said that his administration inherited only over N228 million in the treasury from his predecessor, Alhaji Ramalan Yero.
The former deputy governor of the state, Mr Nuhu Bajoga had said that their administration left over N8billion in the accounts of the State Government when they handed over the mantle of leadership to El-Rufa’i on May 29.
However, El-rufai, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Mr Samuel Aruwan in Kaduna on Sunday, dismissed the claim of Bajoga at a media briefing.
The governor lamented that Yero’s government actually left the state in deficit and the ugly development was now taking its toll on the activities of government.
“The Kaduna State Government had N228,333,371.67 in its central account on 29 May 2015. This represented the working capital that could be spent.
“All other items in the bank balance were committed funds, and are not available to be spent by government. These include counterpart and reserve funds clearly earmarked for specific purposes such as MDGs, SUBEB, Sure-P and state pensions.
“And as such cannot be termed available funds by any responsible government. The N8billion is only on paper as it is not available in reality,” he added.
He said that, the past administration had also incurred outstanding liabilities of N370m by May 2015, which effectively left the state in deficit as the working capital of over N228 m could not cover the liability.
While commenting on the rationale behind the ongoing verification of workers in the state, the governor stated that it was aimed at getting the accurate data base of the state workers .
“The exercise was still ongoing, as poor record-keeping and deliberate attempts to conceal information about the exact financial status of the state had hindered the pace of work of the finance …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
