By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
Sokoto state government, says it will obtain a loan of N65.757 billion from local banks to fast track agricultural development, housing, health, water resources, judiciary, service delivery as well as other infrastructure.
This was disclosed a joint press briefing by the Secretary to the State Government, Umar Saidu, Commissioner for Information, Isa Bajini Galadanci and that of Agriculture, Usman Suleiman, shortly after the State Executive Council meeting, chaired by Governor Aminu Tambuwal on Friday.
A breakdown by Saidu showed that N550 million would be spent on procuring 200 generators to enhance water supply in rural areas; N140 million to procure implements for of water resources, while the N4 billion, to be accessed from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, will be for commercial agriculture on rice, wheat and other crops.
The sum of N10 billion would be borrowed from Sterling Bank for infrastrufture; another N10 billion from Zenith Bank for payment of contracts awarded by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
The sum of N320 million loan will be obtained to provide car loans to judiciary staff; N537 million to pay counterpart funding for SUBEB, while N3.4 billion would be obtained from Access Bank to procure fertilizer for farmers at subsidized rate and another N5 billion to be obtained for healthcare facilities.
Additionally, N1.5 billion would be obtained for Gidan Salanke Housing Estates and N1 billion for the 2020 Hajj exercise.
Bajini explained that loans by governments, especially at states and federal levels had become norm through which projects and programmes for the benefit of the people, are executed in the face of limited resources.
