Governor Danladi Abubakar Reveals Taraba’s Badly Indebted State
The acting governor of Taraba state, Alhaji Danladi Abubakar has revealed that his predecessor, the former acting governor, Alhaji Garba Umar incurred a debt of 14.9bn while in office.
Danladi, who made the statement at a state broadcast in Jalingo on Wednesday, said that even the state/local government joint account was overdrawn by about N700 million monthly.
“The state government’s account with Zenith Bank which was in good shape as at 14th November 2012 now stands at an overdraft of about N7.7 billion as at 30th November, 2014, with November salaries yet to be paid.
“Team loans stood at about N7.2 billion and this brought the state’s indebtedness to about N14.9
billion.”
Danladi further disclosed that development projects in the state were put on hold due to the state government’s inability to meet its payment obligations.
“PW Construction Company pulled out of the state several months ago, the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp has been abandoned and also the Nursing College project in the face.
“Even the Jalingo Motel is now overgrown with weeds and its workers have not been paid salaries for eleven months. ”
He assured residents of the state that his administration was reviewing the government’s finances and trying to work out schemes with bankers to ensure that workers were paid their salaries.
He also said his administration will make sure all monies and properties that were stolen are recovered.