Kwankwasiyya drags Ganduje to court over plan to borrow N300b

The Kwankwasiyya movement Kano chapter has revealed that it has written a petition to the Chinese Development Bank over Kano state’s government efforts to contract a loan facility of 684, 100, 100.00 Euros from the bank to finance a light rail in the state.

The group said it has instructed its lawyers to challenge in court the legitimacy and procedural violation associated with the loan

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by Kwankwasiyya spokesperson Comrade Aminu Abdulsalam and obtained by Solacebase on Monday

According to the statement, it is disheartening and disappointing to note that with the current exchange rate regime, the rising poverty level and the devastating impact of Covid-19 Pandemic, Kano State Government has concluded plans to mortgage the future of the present and incoming generations, by committing them into a perpetual debt at the expense of their Education, Health and other social safety net investment.

The statement added that the repayment period for the proposed loan could take up to 50 years or more.

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“Furthermore, this unfortunate development of an ill-conceived white-elephant project is coming at a time of global economic crisis compounded by the COVID- 19 Pandemic, making the repayment of bogus projects impossible.

It said a State Government, which is unable to sustain the standard set by the administration it took over from, in areas of Education, Health, Poverty reduction and enhanced social cohesion has now resorted to ill-conceived white elephant projects.

The proposed project is conceived without due cognizance of the technical and other financial requirements as encapsulated in the country’s procurement law.” It stated.

It also revealed that the total adjusted loan facility is equivalent to N299, 533,228,785.00 at the Central Bank of Nigeria official exchange rate and N339, 313,649,600.00 at the current parallel market exchange rate of N469.00 to one Dollar adding that the proposed borrowing is also equivalent to about 15 years of the total internally generated revenue of the state and more than two years of its budgetary allocation.

“It is to our dismay that the Government that is supposed to protect and promote the collective wishes and aspirations of its citizens has derailed and embarked on reckless borrowing spree from both local and international financiers. Our philosophy only allows for borrowing when it is extremely necessary and on critical programs or projects. It is on record that we inherited the sum of 200 million USD as Loan for the purchase of mosquito nets under the rollback malaria program which was contracted between 2004 to 2010, but luckily for our state, we followed due process and exited front the loans component and subsequently our government further engaged in meaningful projects that at the long run eradicate the menace of malaria in the state,” said the statement.

It further stated that the National Kwankwasiyya Movement, Kano State chapter has already taken the steps of contacting the Chinese Development Bank through a petition in respect of the illegality and crass procedural violations by the state government both the executive and the legislature) as well as drawing the attention of the Chinese embassy in Nigeria to the risks of the proposed transaction with Ganduje.

The movement according to the statement has also written to the president of the Senate, the Hon. Minister of Finance and the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO) protesting against the proposed enslavement of the people of Kano State. it added that, its lawyers have already instituted a case in court challenging both the legitimacy and the procedural violations associated with the proposed loan.