The Kaduna State House of Assembly on Tuesday set up a 13-man committee to probe financial dealings, loans, grants and other project implementations from 2015-2023 under former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s tenure.
The House also mandated the committee to invite notable personalities that served during the period, including contractors, to explain how the loans and grants received during the period under review were spent.
Chairman House Committee on Public Accounts, who is also the Deputy Minority Whip, Mugu Yusuf, moved the motion, saying the public needed to know what actually happened during that period.
According to him, he moved the motion following the horrific comment made by the state governor, Uba Sani, on March 28, 2024, on the financial situation of the state.
“People cast aspersions on the governor and the office, which is unfair. So as chairman of the House committee on Public Account committee whose responsibility is to ensure accountability and transparency, particularly on government funds in a state I’m serving as a legislature, I was moved by that in conjunction with other colleagues who feel the same.
“I feel there is nobody better than me to move the motion intended to clarify if the governor is wrong for telling the reality and position of the state,” he said.
He also said statistics showed that Kaduna debt profile was second next to Lagos out of the 36 states.
He said if a state reached a position where payment of salary became a problem, then such a situation was a serious matter.
He said the committee has a month to submit its report to the House leadership.
The chairman House Committee on Information, Henry Marah Zachariah, while briefing the media shortly after the sitting, said the House was not accusing anybody of wrongdoing, but was only interested in knowing how the loans and grants collected during the last administration were spent.
He also said whoever refused to honour the invitation; the law would be used to summon them before the committee to explain what actually happened.
He said all those invited are expected to bring along their documents to the committee to defend themselves.
