*’Shariah’s introduction selfish’

By ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

KANO-Governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has said that his predecessor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, handed over an empty treasury to him, lamenting that he inherited a debt of over N108 billion.

About N31.4bn ($209 million) of the debt is a foreign loan while another N77bn is owed locally.  

Kwankwaso said this shortly after he was sworn in by the state Chief Judge, Justice Shehu Atiku, adding that this was despite the fact that about N2 trillion accrued to the two tiers of government in the state within the eight years of Shekarau’s administration.

According to Kwankwaso, the state government and the local government councils collected about N500bn separately from the Federation Account  while the state government generated additional N1trn from internally- generated revenue, during Shekarau’s administration, bringing the total of revenue to about N3trn.

The governor, who had ruled the state for four years before he was defeated by his predecessor, said capital expenses on the running of both the Government House and Cabinet office in 2009 alone rose by 38 per cent saying that the amount was higher than what was spent on key ministries like water resources and education.

Describing the manner in which the former governor managed state fund as irresponsible, Kwankwaso said that what he spent on hotel bills alone was far higher than money injected into the implementation of Sharia in the state.  Shekarau reportedly left N4bn debt on hotel bills.

Kwankwaso lamented that the Sharia was introduced for selfish reasons in the state, pointing out, however, that the era of exploiting religious biases to deceive unsuspecting members of the public was over.