Following the rejection of the Senate to accent Kaduna State’s request for $350 million world bank loan, the State government said no amount of blackmail can stop it from obtaining the loan.
It will be recalled that the Senate had on Thursday turned down the loan request on the premise that with the total debt profile of Kaduna State at the moment, any new borrowing will erode economic viability of the State.
Speaking with newsmen on Friday, the State Commissioner of Finance, Suleiman Kwari said there was still hope of getting the loan from the world bank.
He said this was because there were processes to be concluded at the National Assembly over the loan, including voting for or against by each lawmaker before final rejection or acceptance of the loan.
The Finance Commissioner added that apart from waiting for the final leg of the decision of the National Assembly, the processes the State government went through to get the world bank approval was like, “passing through the eyes of the needle”.
To this end, he said no amount of intimidation and misrepresentation by lawmakers can dissuade the State government from accessing the loan for development.
Recalled that last year, Governor Nasir el-Rufai said the government would deploy part of the loan to equip schools in the State.
“No amount of blackmail, no amount of intimidation, no amount of misrepresentation, no matter what they do, there is no going back for us as long as moving the State forward is concerned.
“What we are saying is that our ministry of finance and ministry of budget and planning appeared before the House of Representatives Committee and the Senate Committee over the loan, and they did very well in their presentations before the committees. The papers are available for anyone to see.
“Apart from this, we did enough sensitisation to all the stakeholders, especially members of the National Assembly from Kaduna State about the need for the loan.
“Sometimes, the governor travelled to Abuja to hold meetings with them on the need to obtain the loan for the development of the State.
“We know the processes of the world bank we passed through, it was like passing through the eyes of the needle to get the approval for the loan. So world bank processes is not like any other institutions.
“If we can pass through world bank processes to get to this stage, then there is still hope to get the loan for the development of the State.
“The National Assembly which I know very well, committees will be set up to look at the loan issue, and at the end of the day, the decision will be subjected to voting either for or against. In this case, no Senator or House Reps member has more than one vote.
“There is no way you collect world bank loan and divert it to another project because one of the conditions of the bank is that the loan must be used for the sole purpose it was collected.
“I think the rate at which the State is moving in terms of development, some people will be made politically irrelevant because there is a new dawn in Kaduna where the traditional way of compromising development in the State is dead and buried.
“The loan, if obtained, will be used to build community roads, primary school, secondary school, healthcentre, and the economy of such community will improve as other social activities will take place there.
“So, no matter the blackmail, the government will move on with development agenda of Kaduna State.” Kwari stated.
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