ZAMFARA: Yari’s former deputy says they left N252bn debts for Gov Matawalle

The transition committee chairman in Zamfara State, Alhaji Ibrahim Wakkala, on Monday said the immediate past governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari, left a debt profile to the tune of N252 billion.

Wakkala, who is also the immediate past deputy governor to Yari, said the liabilities from the Ministry for Finance stood at N65,361,873,755.75.

He added that the liabilities accrued to the state Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs were estimated at N35,399,498,154.53.

Wakkala who was inaugurated by the governor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, explained that N151,190,477,572.02 was accumulated debt from 462 projects embarked upon by the immediate past administration.

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“The committee discovered that out of the N2,000,000,000 approved by the previous administration for the payment of backlog of gratuity owed to retired civil servants, only N400 million was paid to retired permanent secretaries.”

“Unremitted National Housing Scheme’s deductions from state civil servants salaries from 2016 to 2019 stood at N1,431,645,305.99.”

On education, the former deputy governor said the state owed N2,812,172,155 against examinations conducted by National Examinations Council (NECO), National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEC), West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) and tertiary institutions such as Crescent University, Abeokuta, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin and Science Academy, Abuja.

Wakkala said the figures were based on information submitted to his committee by the transition committee inaugurated by Yari’s administration.

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