Sokoto Seeks Soft Loans from Islamic Banks, Others

By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel

The Governor of Sokoto State, Mr Aminu Tambuwal, has disclosed that his administration is looking at obtaining soft loans from financial institutions such as the Islamic Development Bank Africa Development Bank and the World Bank.

He said this on Tuesday, November 9, while speaking at a stakeholders’ town hall meeting on the implementation of the 2021 budget and public inputs into the 2022 budget held at the International Conference Centre, Kasarawa.

The Governor explained that the consideration was for infrastructural development in the state, which will, in turn, improve the lives of the people.

Mr Tambuwal stressed this in reaction to the allegations made by the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that his administration’s recent approval to borrow N28.7 billion will only unnecessarily increase the state’s debt profile.

He claimed that his administration only borrows to fund capital projects due to a lack of funds from federal appropriations and insufficient outputs from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The Governor, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Mohammed Bello, was quoted as saying, “Someone, somewhere, sitting in the corner of his chamber is saying that Sokoto is heavily indebted, which I believe he is an indigene of this state.

“And, I don’t know where he got his figures. He muddled everything and made it sound as if Sokoto is the worst state that is debt bedevilled.”

He said, “We borrow, and we implement. It is not every time that you go to the Assembly and seek approval, that you actually have a drawdown.

“Some of the approvals that we have are still there. No drawdown has been actually done. We are not borrowing for personnel costs. We are not borrowing for recurrent expenditure. We are borrowing for capital expenditure, which is allowed and health globally.”

The meeting, which lasted for more than three hours, featured discussions on other issues such as giving the state board of internal revenue autonomy, improving the Sokoto State Geographic Information System (SOGIS) and upgrading the Lugu dam in the Wurno local government area, among others.