By Dipo Olowookere
Kwara State government has attributed the N2 billion increase in the debt profile of the state to a loan obtained by the previous administration.
In a statement issued on Wednesday night by Mr Rafiu Ajakaye, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, it was stated that when the previous debt profile was released by the Debt Management Office (DMO), the N2 billion loan was not included by the debt agency.
Mr Ajakaye said since Governor AbdulRazaq was sworn into office on May 29, 2019, his administration has not borrowed money from any quarter, but has rather been servicing previous debts inherited.
“This administration has not taken any loan whatsoever. The rise in the domestic debt profile of the state to the tune of N2 billion, as contained in the latest report of the Debt Management Office, was as a result of under-reporting of the debt profile as at June 2019,” the Governor’s CPS said in the statement.
According to him, “While this administration has not taken any loan, it has indeed been servicing those inherited from the past administration, including the N2 billion MSMEDF loan and the N17.569 billion Budget Support Facility which repayments only started in July and September 2019 respectively. These loans are being deducted from source by the federal government.”
He explained that, “The rise of the debt profile from N61,335,531,821.69 in the second quarter to N63,177,349,538.89 in the third quarter, a difference of approximately N2 billion, was because the N2 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) loan, which was long taken and spent by the last administration, was never declared to the DMO until the third quarter of 2019.”
“So, the rise of the state’s debt profile was simply because of this new declaration of the MSMEDF loan taken by the last administration,” Mr Ajakaye pointed out in the statement.
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