Hon. Danjuma Usman Shiddi on Monday accused the Taraba State government of accumulating more than ₦1 trillion in debt while delivering “no commensurate development,” and said he has documents to back the claim.
Shiddi told reporters that local government areas are being saddled with annual loan obligations of between ₦3 billion and ₦4 billion each, yet “no local government in Taraba has ₦200 million worth of projects” to show for the borrowing.
“If I’m lying, show me where I’m wrong. We will go and verify the facts,” he said, calling for transparency and an independent audit of the state’s borrowings and project delivery.
Shiddi demanded that the state publish a full debt register showing creditors, amounts, disbursement dates, repayment schedules and the projects financed. He also called for:
• disclosure of the terms of each loan and the annual debt service cost for the state and for each local government;
• release of procurement and project completion records for loans already disbursed;
• an independent forensic audit of recent borrowings and major capital projects; and
• a temporary suspension of new borrowing until the audit is completed.
He added that clarification is needed on whether state or local revenues were used as guarantees for any loans, and whether proceeds were fully applied to intended projects.
Shiddi said he is prepared to make his supporting documents available for verification and urged the state government to respond publicly.
Requests for comment were sent to the Taraba State Government. The government has been given an opportunity to respond.
