The immediate past governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isa Yuguda, has
advised the Governor of the state, Muhammed Abubakar, not to tarnish the
good image of his administration, saying the recently inaugurated governor
should focus on the task ahead of him.
The former governor who said he left the state without an overdrawn
account or an overdraft, pointed out that most state governors had
billions in overdraft left for their successor, “and the one who doesn’t
have is playing to the gallery.”
A statement from Yuguda’s media team at the weekend, said Abubakar should
be grateful that the former governor restructured all loans to make them
easy for the state to repay without going broke.
Yuguda further clarified that under him, the state raised a N15billion
bond. N7 billion was used for repayment of previous loans and the balance
was used for the completion of the mega specialist hospital and the
airport.
“Today, Bauchi is not owing any bank at all. It is owing N14 billion for
gratuities, contractors are owed about N1.4 billion.
“Others include the World Bank $50 million educational intervention loan
and it was gotten on merit. It’s a 25 year facility. Only Anambra, Ekiti
and Bauchi qualified from Nigeria. There is a $70 million water
intervention fund by The World Bank with a 30 year tenor that the state
has not drawn on at all.
“In addition, there was an N8 billion overdraft we inherited from the
previous administration, to be repaid over eight years. We restructured
and liquidated 97% of that loan.” he said.
To this end, he advised the new governor to stop throwing stones and face
the work of developing the state. Yuguda said the information of the
state’s debt status were contained in the handover notes which were duly
signed by Abubakar.
“They should concentrate on the 17 brand new hospitals opened,
rehabilitated schools, specialist hospital, university and other projects
commissioned.
“It appears they’re not properly educated and equipped on how to run a
government. They should look for ways to continue from where the past
administration stopped instead looking for excuses,” he added.
He maintained that Bauchi is one of the least borrowed states.
“What about Kano that inherited a N300 billion overdraft position? Jigawa
inherited N117 billion overdraft and yet they’re not talking about these
things, they’re busy looking for ways to move their states forward. Now a
state like Bauchi that did not inherit any overdraft is looking for who to
blame their ignorance on,” he said.