Fintiri fumes over N115bn Adamawa debt

Adamawa State Governor-elect, Rt Hon Ahmadu Fintiri has vowed to ‘step on toes’ over the debt profile of the state under the current administration of Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow.

Fintiri made the vow on Saturday while receiving the report of a transition committee, which he constituted to review the activities of the Bindow government and offer advice on the constitution of his government.

Responding to the report of the committee which stated, among other things, that the Bindow government had accumulated a total of N115 billion debt as at March 2019, Fintiri said it was unfortunate that Bindow had been taking overdraft to pay salary of civil servants without judicial application of incomes of the state.

Fintiri said: “Posterity will not forgive us if we fail to ask the right questions about how a state that received a combined income of N332 billion is hopelessly neck deep in debt and has to take overdrafts to pay salary in the last four years.

“In the days after the election, many well-meaning individuals had voiced their concerns about the shenanigans of the outgoing government and the need to call them to order.

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“Let me restate the call on our people to join me in the task of correcting the ills of the past. In doing so, we shall not hesitate to step on toes where public interests have been compromised.

“As a corrective government popularly elected by the people, we will not hesitate to step on toes in the interest and advancement of the public good.

The Chairman of the Adamawa Transition Committee, Aliyu Isma’la Numan, said ” the combined total debt that accrued over the last four years in the state stand at N115 billion.”

He explained that out of the sum, N97 billion is owed by the state, comprising outstanding external and domestic loans of N55.5 billion, outstanding contractor claims of N22.3 billion, arrears of pensions and gratuity and death benefit of N16.4 billion, and salary arrears and other staff claims of N2.7 billion; while the local government councils owe N18 billion.