Revealed! How Aliyu secured and spent N2.9bn loan

More facts have emerged surrounding the allegation by the Niger State government that former governor of the state, Aliyu Babangida secured and allegedly embezzled a N2.9 billion loan collected on behalf of the state, on the eve of his leaving office.

Investigation by Leadership revealed that the loan was not taken on the eve of departure as alleged; documents available indicated that the said loan was taken in 2014 and was initiated since 2013.

This is coming on the heels of the rebuttal by the immediate past secretary to the state government (SSG), Saidu Ndako Kpaki, that he did not receive N600 million, as alleged, on the eve of the departure of the past government; neither was he aware of any loan by the government before departure.

According to the document obtained, the loan was tagged ‘Re: Mandate to Request Approval to Obtain Bank Loan of N2,924,656,896.00 to offset some debt and to uplift the state/local government programmes under joint account.”

The expenditure profile of the loan and the disbursement showed that N994.2 million was expended to augment the increase in the subsidy for the pilgrim welfare commission preparatory to 2014 hajj.

Also, in the request paper for the loan, N573 million was released as contribution to security at government house, and N612 million was released to the SSG’ office as general security during Niger East senatorial by-election.

The disbursement profile, according to the document, also showed that Niger State Road Maintenance Agency (NIGROMA) received N10million while N280million was used as part payment for 10 kilometres of roads in some local government areas.

Also, N300 million was used to purchase vehicles for the local government chairmen, security agents and judiciary officials, while N155million was used as security vote and running cost of the local governments chairmen.

The schedule indicated that the money could not reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and State Universal Basic Education counterpart funds because of the increase in the hajj subsidy, which was not anticipated.

it will be recalled, that on Wednesday, the Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello had, in a statement by his chief press secretary, Ibrahim Dooba, demanded the return of N2.9 million loan taken and shared by the ex-governor and his officials.

In the same vein, the former SSG, Hon Ndako Kpaki, in an interview with Leadership on Friday, challenged the government to come out with the facts that prove that he collected N600 million through his office on the eve of their departure as claimed.

He stated, “If the writer of that release want to be professional, he would have been armed with facts of when the loan was collected, how it was purportedly shared, and where it was collected,” he said, adding that no such loan was collected on the eve of the departure of the former administration, but the one collected through the local government in 2014 which had already been fully repaid.

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