Governor Simon Lalong, of Plateau State has accused his predecessor, Jonah Jang, of squandering N2 billion borrowed from a bank for empowerment of women and youth in the state.

The governor stated this on Thursday in Jos, the state capital, during the graduation ceremony of trainees under a skill acquisition programme.

“When we came on board, we were confronted to pay a sum of two billion naira that was spent by the past administration. The sum was meant to eradicate poverty among our youth, but nothing of such was done. I told the bank that I was not going to pay,” he said.

Governor Lalong said he has alerted the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, to help recover the misappropriated fund.

Mr. Lalong of the All Progressives Congress succeeded Mr. Jang of the Peoples Democratic Party as governor in 2015.

According to Mr. Lalong, his predecessor’s government obtained the N2 billion loan from the Bank of Industry.

The governor had instituted a panel to investigate alleged large scale corruption by the administration of Mr. Jang. The panel has submitted its report to the government, though no individual has been prosecuted or punished for corruption based on the findings of the panel.

Mr. Lalong did not disclose whether the panel investigated the N2 billion

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Lalong accuses Jang of squandering N2 billion empowerment loan