By Haruna Salami
The senator representing Kaduna central, Uba Sani has urged the Senate Committee on local and foreign debts to favourably consider the foreign loan of 350 million US dollars for Kaduna State Government to fund some critical projects.
Uba Sani made the call on his colleagues Tuesday at the public hearing of the committee in Abuja, adding that the debt profile of the state government was healthy to accommodate the loan.
Presenting the request of Kaduna State Government to the committee, the Chief of Staff to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Mohammed Sani Abdullahi said “the loan is specifically designed to fund capital projects with socio-economic impact on Kaduna state and its residents in line with the state development plan”.
Abdullahi said based on the economic indices, Kaduna state can “comfortably repay the loan”.
It will be recalled that this same request by Kaduna was rejected by the 8th Senate when the then chairman of the committee on local and foreign debts, Senator Shehu Sani objected to it in his committee’s report to the Senate. This was one of the main factors that cost him his return ticket.
Apparently alluding to Shehu Sani’s action at Tuesday’s public hearing, Senator Abdu Kwari representing Kaduna North, who threw his support behind the loan said they have “replaced” those who opposed the loan before.
Other states that applied for the loan and defended their proposals before the committee Tuesday are Kogi and Katsina states for 100 million dollars each.
