Abdulrazaq's Reckless Borrowings and the Truth Behind Kwara's Debt Reduction
By Abdulyekeen Mohd Bashir
It is often said that transparency and accountability are the foundations of good governance and public sector management. These principles of transparency and accountability are fundamental because public institutions and officials are meant to serve the interest of the public. Therefore, their activities and operations should be conducted openly, with nothing hidden from the public—especially when it comes to the management of resources and funds belonging to the people.
It is however baffling to note that the current administration of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq in Kwara State seems to have no regard for these essential principles. For Abdulrazaq and his team, transparency and accountability appear to be mere buzzwords, spoken but not practiced. Despite their repeated claims of having nothing to hide and being committed to transparency, their actions tell a whole different story.
Recently, the state government’s media handlers and their data boys authored and shared a publication across various social media platforms, boasting of a significant reduction in Kwara's domestic debt to N59,071,666,365.52 as of the first quarter of 2024, a 45.89% decrease from the December 2023 figure of N109,162,798,865.21. They attributed this reduction to Governor Abdulrazaq’s effective debt management and commitment to fiscal responsibility. This claim, however, is false and misleading. The reduction has nothing to do with the purported management and fiscal responsibility of the governor.
The truth about the reduction is that the debt was offset by the Federal Government’s reimbursement of Kwara’s share of its over-deductions from the Excess Crude Accounts between 2009 and 2015, during the previous administrations of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed. While Governor Abdulrazaq’s administration often laments the liabilities it inherited from past administrations, it has never for once acknowledged the assets and gains it inherited from those administrations. This selective narrative reveals a lack of integrity and duplicity of the governor and his men.
Moreover, what Abdulrazaq and his men have failed to tell Kwarans is that the governor has within 4 years, increased Kwara’s debt profile by about N48BILLION representing about an almost 80 per cent increment. For the sake of clarity, according to figures released by the Debt Management Office (DMO), Kwara’s domestic debt stood at N61,335,531,821 as of June 30, 2019. By December 31, 2023, this figure had ballooned to a whooping N109,162,798,865.21, meaning that Governor Abdulrazaq had increased the state’s domestic debt by N47,827,267,044 in less than 4 years. These figures are publicly available on the DMO’s website. If not for the refund by the Federal Government, Kwara’s domestic debt profile would have remained at over N109billion and one can only imagine the amount it would have risen to by the end of Abdulrazaq’s administration in 2027, going by his reckless borrowings in the past 4 years. Who will tell Abdulrazaq to tame his penchant for needless loan acquisitions?
What is more troubling and unfortunate is that Governor Abdulrazaq cannot justify his reckless borrowings. I challenge the governor and his data boys to point to us the tangible projects he has executed with the N48BILLION he has borrowed since he assumed office. Abdulrazaq needs to explain to Kwarans what he has done and is doing with these wanton borrowings, as well as the increased federal allocations and donor grants and aids that his administration has received so far. Transparency and accountability should not be something he and his men just talk about; they must put those principles into action. After all, you have nothing to hide, isn't it?
Another issue I would like to draw Kwarans' attention to is the recent report released by the Joint Tax Board (JTB) on the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of states for 2023. According to the JTB, Kwara State generated a total of N59.6 billion in IGR for the year under review. This figure starkly contrasts with the N56.2 billion that the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) earlier declared to Kwarans and published on its website. There's a noticeable difference of over N3billion. Is this discrepancy a mistake or a deliberate misrepresentation by the KWIRS? The management owes Kwarans an explanation.
The explanation offered on a Whatsapp group that I also belong to by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaye on the discrepancy is ridiculous and laughable. Ajakaye argued that "if Kwara State is reported to have generated N59.6bn in 2023 and KWIRS posted N56.4bn as its annual revenue for the year, it simply means that the remaining N3.2bn of that N59.6bn is what the 16 LGAs generated in the year." Can the CPS tell us when KWIRS began making such distinction when declaring the state's IGR figures, and why was that distinction not made on the KWIRS website for the 2019, 2020, and 2022 IGR figures? Do these people think they can just pull the wool over our eyes?.
The governor's CPS also claimed that the IGR of the 16 local government councils of the state was N313million for 2022 and N3.2billion for 2023. This is an interesting claim and I am waiting for the KWIRS management to come out to substantiate. Kwarans like myself would really like to know factors responsible for such significant increment within 12 months.
Moreover, the KWIRS under this administration has inexplicably discontinued the practice of monthly declarations of the State’s IGR figures and the amount of statutory 10% of the IGR that goes to the 16 local government councils in the state. This practice, alongside the publication of monthly FAAC figures of the state and the LGs, was a regular practice under the immediate past administration of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed. One would expect an administration that often claims it is transparent and has nothing to hide to uphold such a commendable practice.
Abdulyekeen Mohd Bashir, a Kwara born political analyst writes from FGC Ilorin Staff Qtrs, Ogidi, Ilorin.
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