Speaker Yusuf Liman has explained the purpose of the Kaduna State House of Assembly’s probe into the financial dealings of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s immediate previous administration.
On Tuesday, Liman explained the Assembly’s decision to form a 13-member committee whose job it is to look into all financial transactions, grants, loans, and project implementations made between 2015 and 2023 while El-Rufai is in office.
Liman confirmed the committee’s dedication to finding the truth and promised a thorough investigation of the matter.
“We just want to analyse the last administration’s spendings so that we can stand with our shoulders high by the time we finish from the assembly,” he stated.
“We do not want anyone to call us rubber stamp legislators; we are not going to do this investigation to ridicule anybody, but we will do the right thing.”
The move comes in the wake of recent revelations by Governor Uba Sani, El-Rufai’s successor, who said he inherited a debt burden of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities.
Sani lamented the financial burden on the state, which was made worse by the decline in the value of the currency, which resulted in having to repay debts that the previous government had obtained three times as much of.
Sani said that a huge portion of the federal allocation, amounting to N7 billion out of N10 billion for March, was allocated towards servicing debts.
This left the state with a mere N3 billion, insufficient to cover the monthly salary bill of N5.2 billion.
At a recent workshop in Borno State, El-Rufai said that he doesn’t interfere in Kaduna’s governance because he doesn’t want to be called a godfather in the state.
According to El-Rufai, he has only been to Kaduna five times since he left office nearly a year ago.
“I don’t want to be a godfather and that’s why I don’t interfere in what is happening in Kaduna, I want him (the governor) to learn and get the job by himself.”
