By: Joy Odor/Kaduna
The Senator Shehu Sani has empathized that all bank loans that the nine States are requesting for must follow due process before such loan can be given to any State.
Reacting to a question on the Kaduna $350m loan while addressing Journalists on Monday at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council Secretariat, the Senator representing Kaduna Central and Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debt, said with the situation Kaduna State found itself, if the loan is eventually approved, in the next three to five decades, the State may not be able to pay the loan.
Senator Sani vowed not to be party to a situation that will plunged Kaduna State into debt that the unborn generation will suffered for and that no amount of politics, protests or pressure will make him to compromise.
According to him, it is not a matter of Senator Shehu Sani is a blocking stone to the loan, but as a Senator representing the people at the Senate, he have a duty to ensure that things are done the way it ought to be done, saying the next generation should not come and meet debt they cannot pay.
The Senator was of the opinion that if the money is borrow and it is not use according to what it is meant for, the danger is that people may not traced the name of those who seek the loan but my name as the Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign and Local Debt that will appear on the file as the person who apex his signature on the file.
“As a Committee, we are committed to doing our job effectively without any form of sentiments or political inclinations and we will be guided by the law.
“We are aware that loan of that magnitude will need to be re-paid back in about 3-5 decades.
He continue to maintain that if the Senate must sign the loan, the Senate must be satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt that the loan must reflect with projects seeking to use the loan for.
“Even if my Committee approved the loan, it will still come back to the floor of the Senate for final approval.
“Passing a loan request required a lot of processes and all these processes will be done in public and not behind a closed door” he said.
We are working on the loan request from the remaining 9 states but political considerations will not be part of it.
“None of the loan request will get approval unless we are convinced of its judicious use” he stressed.
Senator Sani cautioned that people should not be brainwashed by going on the streets of Kaduna State to stage a protest on the issue regarding the loan, saying he is a symbol of protest in Kaduna State without been sponsored or paid by anybody.
“I am a symbol of protests especially in Kaduna State without anybody paying me to do so, so whoever is doing protest in Kaduna is learning from me,” he said.
The Senator informed that the insinuations that he was sabotaging the effort of the State Government in getting approval for the loan are far from the truth.
Some women stormed the streets of Kaduna state during the weekend protesting and insinuated that the yet to be approved loan by the Senate Committee is as a result of Senator Shehu Sani’s political crisis with Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
