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| Hon Dati |
GOVERNMENT
CLARIFIES ISSUES ON PLATEAU’S DEBT
By
Emmanuel Atabat
13th
March, 2018
The Plateau State Government has said it has
been able to reduce the debt it met by over 50 percent.
This is contained in a statement signed by
the Commissioner of information and communication, Hon. YakubuDati who also
denied that the state procured a loan of $2billion.
Dati who was reacting to the recent
allegations by Hon. Solomon Dalung, the Minister of Sports and Youth
Development that the State was reveling in profligacy said that out of the
Plateau State debt profile of N220 billion which it inherited, it has settled N122billion.
The statement reads, “The records are
available at the debt Management Office for confirmation. The bandied figure of
N1trillion 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 facilities was approved by the Federal
Executive Council (FEC) meeting of Wednesday, July 26 2017. The loan was
secured from the African Development Bank (ADB) for the development of Irish
potatoes value chain and the project is expected to create 60,000 jobs.
“Plateau State would be providing N599
million as counter part funding for the project and the loan has a five years
moratorium. Thereafter, whatever remained of the loan would be paid at the rate
of 1% in 20 years.
The statement added that the loan would be
used to develop the Irish potatoes value chain in the 17 local government areas
of the state and the implementation would be jointly executed by FADAMA Project
and a Unit in the state Ministry of Agriculture. It added that about 70 percent
of the loan would be used for the provision of infrastructure, Extension
services, improved planting and marketing.
“The whole exercise is aimed at boostingproduction
and minimizing wastages in Plateau State which is the largest producer of Irish potatoes. The rescue administration remains focused on
delivering on its mandate.” The Statement added
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