The Kaduna State Government said the State as at December 31, 2013, is indebted to the tune of N37.5billion.

The State’s Commissioner of Finance, Sama’ila Aliyu, disclosed this at a briefing held in Kaduna, saying the present administration inherited huge debts taken by past administrations since inception of the State in 1965.

The Kaduna State Government said the State as at December 31, 2013, is indebted to the tune of N37.5billion.

The State’s Commissioner of Finance, Sama’ila Aliyu, disclosed this at a briefing held in Kaduna, saying the present administration inherited huge debts taken by past administrations since inception of the State in 1965.

He added that the State was working tirelessly to offset the debts.

“In 2006 there was reconciliation and sharing of debt obtained as far back as 1965 between the new Kaduna State and Katsina State, Aliyu explained.

“The actual balance outstanding against Kaduna State was almost $85million.

He mentioned that the loans do not form part of the debt relief from Paris and London Club which Nigeria enjoyed in 2006. The State loans are from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, International Development Bank, IDA, and Africa Development Bank, AFDB.

“Over the years, subsequent administrations in the State continued to borrow from these financial institutions for various infrastructural development projects amounting to almost $186million,”he said.

Speaking on the highlight of the draft budget, the State’s Commissioner of Economic Planning, Garba Madami, said the recurrent expenditure approved estimate in 2014 was about N69.6billion; supplementary estimates N960million; special virement about N5.6billion; approved revised estimates about N76billion while the actual expenditure stood at about N62billion with the performance rate at 82 per cent.

On the 2015 budget profile, Madami said the projected recurrent expenditure was about N72.7billion while the projected capital expenditure was almost N131billion; totaling about N203.7billion.

He assured the people that government will ensure strict compliance to the budget profile for the benefit of the people of the state.

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Kaduna State is indebted to the Tune of N37.5billion- Sama’ila Aliyu (Finance commissioner)