The Plateau State Government has replied the Minister of Youth and
Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, for accusing the state governor,
Simon Lalong of mismanaging over $2 billion loan.
According to the minister, the APC administration in Plateau was not prudent in managing resources.
“Where is the $2 billion loan collected from African Development Bank
for potatoes processing factory payable in 25 years? Where is the
factory located? Or where is the money kept and whose account? Why did
the state government keep the issue of the loan secret? What is
happening to LG funds? What is happening to 5 per cent meant for the
traditional council?” the minister said in a statement he personally
signed in response to an earlier verbal attack on him by the APC
chairman in the state, Latep Dabang.
The Commissioner for Information and Communication in Plateau State,
Yakubu Dati, in a statement said Dalung’s allegations were false, and
unfounded, and only meant to portray the state government in bad light.
The spokesman also said that the Lalong administration had been able
to reduce the debt it inherited from its predecessor, Jonah Jang, by
over 50 per cent
The statement reads:
“For the records. Plateau State debt profile is N122 billion from an
inherited debt of N220 billion. The records are available at the Debt
Management Office for confirmation. The bandied figure of N1 trillion is
tales by moonlight.“On the matter of the loan. It is still being processed and not
released. This can easily be confirmed on the bank’s website as
attached.The amount secured by the Federal Ministry of Finance is 11
million dollars and not 2 BILLION dollars being bandied.The facility
was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of
Wednesday, July 26 2017. The loan was secured from the African
Development Bank (AfDB) for the development of the Irish potato value
chain, and the project is expected to create 60,000 jobs.“Plateau State would be providing N599 million as counterpart funding
for the project.The loan has a five years moratorium; thereafter,
whatever remained of the loan would be paid at the rate of 1 per cent in
20 years. The loan would be used to develop the Irish potatoes value
chain in 17 local local government areas of the state.”
The statement however said nothing about the minister’s accusation that Governor Lalong misled the president to commission an overhead bridge that was completed by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in the previous administration.