Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, has described the administration of his predecessor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, as clueless, heartless and reckless after receiving the report of the transition committee.
Mr Yahaya, without mentioning Dankwambo’s name, said on Friday on receiving the report that he was surprised that Mr Dankwambo, a former Accountant–General of the Federation, would allow mismanagement of funds in Gombe.
“One is surprised that a former Accountant General that has served Nigeria will allow finance management to get to this level in a small state like Gombe.
“There must have been a conducive environment for such to thrive. The summary of it all is that the previous administration was clueless, heartless and reckless,” he said.
Chairman of the transition committee, Muhammad Ahmad, said: “A careful review of the state’s fiscal position indicated that since 2011, the previous administration had embarked on expansionary fiscal policy largely financed by consistent borrowings. The local debts alone increased from N 5.95 billion in 2011 to N63.45 billion at the end of May 2019.
“This had led to the rising debt profile which stood at N119 billion as of 29th May 2019. Also, the total debt included N14.83 billion outstanding gratuities and pension.
“The sum of N638.90 million is being deducted from the statutory allocation to service various loans on a monthly basis.
“Towards the end of May 2019, the state received the sum of N11.71 billion including N5.6 billion Paris Club Refund, out of which N3.01 billion was paid as consultancy fees,” Mr Ahmad said.
The committee advised the new governor to cut the number of ministries in the state from 27 to 16 ministries.
