Abdullahi Ganduje, the current national chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), governed the state at the period from January to May 2023, until he was succeeded by the incumbent governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People's Party.
A review of the 2023 report of the Kano State Auditor-General revealed that the state government paid the sum of N882,980,132.76 to "unknown companies" to supply fuel between January to October 2023.
Abdullahi Ganduje, the current national chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), governed the state at the period from January to May 2023, until he was succeeded by the incumbent governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People's Party.
The Auditor-General report claimed that the state paid N882million to companies without any verifiable profiles to supply 769,845 liters of fuel (AGO/PMS) to the Government House and other institutions.
The report stated further that the transaction proceeded without any formal contracts or engagement letters validating it.
The Auditor General said: “From the files presented, it was observed that between January to October 2023; 769,845.00 liters of fuel (AGO/PMS) with cumulative value of 882,980,132.76 were supplied to the Government House and MDAs as presented in the table Below.”
The report observed that “i. There were no comprehensive details of the approved companies as fuel suppliers from May to December, 2023.
“ii.The files presented do not contain the following important records.
“a) Company Profile(s). b) Evidence of Works Registration certificate with the Ministry of Works & Housing c) Signed Contractual Agreement. d) Engagement letters, etc
“ii. Outstanding Approval/ Documents Regarding the Fueling: a) A.A. Karansi: 21,061,314.00 31/08/2023
b) Comprehensive fuel supplied details and their approvals for the Month of November and December, 2023.”
SaharaReporters had earlier reported how the state recorded a loss of N44billion on its foreign debts in 2023, which is primarily attributed to the naira's depreciation against the United States dollar.
According to the 2023 audited report, the government reports N44,074,983,000 for "Loss from Exchange on Foreign Debts." In 2022, the state recorded N2,690,039,000.
The loss is expected to put a strain on the state's finances, potentially impacting its ability to deliver essential public services.
The state government also spent the sum of N6,117,840,000 on Public Debt Charges in 2023 and N6,843,557,000 in 2022.
A review of the budget performance documents of the state done by SaharaReporters also shown that a sum of N60billion was spent by the state on public debt charges between April and June 2024.
The N60billion was spent in the second quarter and this is despite the fact that only N4.6 billion was budgeted to be spent by the state on debt servicing for the whole of 2024.
The payments were broken into N1.6 billion for “Domestic Interest/discount” and another N58billion paid for “Domestic Principal.”
