Mohammed Munirat Nasir, Gusau

The Transition Committee set up by Zamfara Governor, Dr. Bello Mohammed, has disclosed that the  immediate past administration of governor Abdul’Aziz Yari Abubakar left a debt profile of over N251.9 billion for the state.

This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Committee, Mallam Ibrahim Wakkala Muhammad, when he briefed newsmen at the Government House, Gusau, yesterday.

“From the foregoing discussions, it is noteworthy that the total liabilities so far discovered by the committee stands at N251.9 billion,” he said.

Wakkala, who was Yari’s deputy for eight years, said liabilities on ongoing projects, as submitted by the former administration, stands at over N151 billion.

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“Based on four sectors, which include economic, environmental, general and social sectors, the total liabilities from ongoing projects which are 462 in number, stand at over N151 billion”, he said.

Wakkala added that liabilities from the state’s Ministry of Finance, which include outstanding loans, contract retention, bailouts and loans from banks stands at over N65 billion.

The transition committee chairman also disclosed that liabilities from the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, as discovered by the committee, stands at N35.3 billion.

He said National Housing Fund and Pension contributions deducted from workers salaries from 2016 to 2019, which has not been remitted to the appropriate organisations, as required by law, amounts to over N1.43 billion.

“The committee discovered that for over N2 billion approved by the previous administration, for the payment of backlog of gratuity owed retired workers in the state, only retired permanent secretaries were paid N400 million while N1.6 billion is unaccounted for,”  Wakkala said.