The immediate past governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido has disclosed that throughout his eight years tenure, he never borrowed a dime from any bank to fund developmental projects.He also said that the total contractual liability of the state at the time he left office on May 29 stood at about N13 billion but added that it could come to about N2 billion if the money he left behind for verified projects and the debt owed the state by the federal government was settled.
The ex-governor, who is currently standing trial for alleged corruption and money laundering charges, said that he judiciously applied the funds that accrued to the state and executed many monumental projects, including the N17 billion Dutse International Airport, without approaching any financial institution for loan as was the practice by most of his colleagues.
Lamido, who made the revelation in an exclusive interview with Vanguard in Kano, said that the Federal Government was indebted to the state to the tune of N12 billion, in respect of the airport, which he said former President Goodluck Jonathan promised to build.
Lamido said: “I did my best to run the state with available resources. I did not borrow a penny from any company or from any bank or from anybody in Nigeria for the purpose of doing anything in the eight years I spent as a governor”.
On how he was able to build the airport without any loan facility, the former governor noted that he sourced money from the state’s main line budget because he had a commitment from the Federal Government that it was going to build an international airport in the state.
“I had a commitment from the Federal government that and I decided to be smart by starting the building of the airport with the hope that when the federal government pays us we can use the refund to do other things.
“That is why I said that the federal government is owing Jigawa State N12 billion for the airport. We spent N17 billion to build it and the government has so far remitted N5 billion to the state, leaving a balance of N12 billion”, he said.
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