Blame Game over Plateau’s Intimidating Debt Profile

Seriki Adinoyi reflects on the huge debt profile inherited by Plateau State Governor, Mr Caleb Mutfwang, from his predecessor, Hon Simon Lalong.

While being sworn in as Plateau State Governor in May, 2023, Governor Caleb Mutfwang had declared that he understood the enormity of the task ahead.

According to him, “I understand clearly the enormity of the task before me and I have no illusions that it will be an easy ride. The state is presently under a huge debt burden of over 200 billion Naira, the healthcare sector is in need of urgent attention, our school system requires a comprehensive overhaul, our infrastructure is decayed and inadequate, and practically, every sector requires urgent redress. I must mention that there are no quick-fix solutions to these challenges, but one thing is certain, we are prepared to take the challenges head-on and we will hit the ground running immediately.”

He was, however, quick to add that “we will not witch-hunt, neither will we embark on blame game, but we will take a critical assessment of what we are inheriting today, and where we need to ask cogent questions, we will. Because we are determined to bequeath an enduring legacy.”

That was the audacity with which the Governor hit the ground running. But as he said, recent critical assessments of the state have shown that the enormity of the task is probably beyond what he envisaged, especially in the areas of the state’s debt burden and the decay in infrastructure.

Besides taking over an impoverished treasury, the huge and demoralizing unpaid workers’ wages, tattered infrastructure, and daring insecurity are just unsettling.

The Governor had set up two committees on a Four-Year Strategic Development Blueprint for the state, and on transition, both headed by Prof. Ganyir Lombin.

In his startling report, Lombin observed that the committee was faced with some very formidable operational challenges that did not allow them to make a joint presentation.

He lamented that the out-gone administration of Hon Simon Lalong did not avail the committee the opportunity of making inputs into the handover documents submitted to the joint committee before May 29, 2023.

He added that the handover notes presented to the Governor by the out-gone administration on 29 May 2023 were scanty and lacked necessary details as they did not follow the agreed template developed by the Joint Committee on transition.

According to Lombin, “The handover notes stated that the revenue which accrued to the Plateau State Government from May 2015 to May 2023 stood at N872 billion. The total expenditure was only given from May 2015 to December 2022 and not up to May 2023 at N810 billion.

“Does this suggest that there was no expenditure from January 2023 to May 2023, or was it deliberate misinformation? The government needs to look at this critically and where necessary, take approximate action.”

He revealed that there was no clear figure for the state’s monthly wage bill, adding however, that Mutfwang’s administration has inherited a backlog of four months of unpaid salaries to public servants amounting to over N11 billion, and that outstanding gratuity and pension arrears of N24 billion was also inherited.

He said that Lalong’s ‘Legacy Projects’ were marred in controversies and unresolved legal cases which have stalled their implementation, warning that currently, the sum of N12 billion for these projects is still in the custody of the trustees of the Funds.

The committees also revealed that there were 3,692 items of government assets and properties including cars, houses that were sold and auctioned at ridiculous prices both within and outside the state that need to be further investigated and where necessary, appropriate action be taken.

According to the committee, Mutfwang inherited a near-bankrupt state, with weak institutions, low public morale, and a high level of insecurity but with high expectations from the citizenry.

Lombin described the task ahead of the Governor as enormous but not insurmountable and expressed joy in the manner in which Mutfwang is determined to succeed in the pursuit of the collective interest of the Plateau people.

Receiving the reports, the Governor said, “I want to assure you all that these reports will not gather dust on the shelves.  We are going to make prudent use of them and study them appropriately. These reports will give rise to further investigations, will give rise to further studies that we need to embark upon and we will not waste time in doing so.

He said, “You highlighted the debt burden. I knew that throughout the campaign, we were under the mistaken belief that our debt burden was around N200 billion and to hear that it is N307 billion is quite intimidating and worrisome.”

But before the Governor could finish responding to the reports, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state fired back, saying the reports were mere gimmicks to disparage and tarnish the image and reputation of Lalong who has assiduously served the state with all his energies.

According to Plateau APC Consolidation Vanguard (PACV), Lalong never left N307 billion burden as claimed in the reports.

The Convener of PACV, Comrade Jok Samuel Camillus said, “The unsubstantiated figure which was said to have been given during the submission of a 4-year Strategic Development Plan and Transition Committee Report by its Chairman, Prof. Ganyir Lombin to Governor Mutfwang is to say the least another fabrication of the imagination of its authors aimed at targeting the achievements of the last APC administration by the PDP which as it were, clearly thrives in mischief and misleading the people.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the APC-led Rescue Administration handed over a total debt stock of 201,225,349,626.41 Naira only as at 30th April 2023 which was verified by the Plateau State Debt Management Agency and the Federal Government Debt Management Office and was so submitted in the handover notes.”

He explained that the said figure comprises of both the domestic and foreign loans and facilities accessed by the Plateau State Government during the Lalong administration including the figures it inherited from the Jang administration.

“Let it also be known that in 2015, Governor Lalong inherited a total debt burden of 222 billion naira from the Jonah Jang administration which he never defaulted in servicing throughout his administration without making noise or trying to tarnish the image of his successor by misinformation and fabrication of fake and fictitious figures”, Camillus stressed.

He said that Lalong’s administration also inherited over eight months of salary arrears, 12 months pension, no-work, no-pay withheld wages, among others, which it settled promptly and continued to pay until its last few months in office.

“We regret to remind the people of Plateau State that in 2015, many local Governments, particularly Mangu (which was led by the current Governor H.E. Caleb Mutfwang as Chairman) were shut down due to huge debts until the Lalong Rescue Administration stepped in to save the situation and have the Local Government reopened. Despite this, no one went to town to castigate him or fabricate fictitious figures to disparage him.

“One therefore wonders what the PDP-led administration wants to achieve with these fake figures that are not in tandem with the figures authenticated by the DMO and Plateau Debt Management Agency which have been published and can be verified any day any time.

“We challenge the government or its committees which came up with the bogus and fake figures to put out the details of the “alleged” debt profile for the public to see if they have any.”

The APC group further advised Mutfwang to face the business of governance like his colleagues across the country particularly as Plateau faces very critical issues at the moment which need to be addressed.

According to the group, the critical issues on the Plateau include the ravaging attacks on innocent citizens which have continued unabated since Mutfwang took over, the continued shutdown of the State Civil Service due to the strike by workers over unpaid salaries, as well as the crippling of governance at the Local Government tier due to his inordinate ambition to forcefully take over the local government against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and pronouncements of the Supreme Court.

As the blame game continues, certain things are clear. Like the old adage, ‘what goes around, comes around’. What is happening to Lalong was exactly what he did to his predecessor, Senator Jonah Jang. One would have expected that when he was witchhunting Jang, he will be cautious not to fall victim to the same ‘crime’, but unfortunately, government officials never really learn.

Mutfwang should therefore know from the onset that his successor will cross-check his government too. With this mindset from the beginning, he will be cautious and won’t fall victim of the same offence for which Lalong is now running from pillar to pole. If only Lalong had learned from the past.

Handing over debts to a successor in Nigeria is not really news anymore; it has become a recurring decimal. What is however worrisome is the question of what the predecessors did with the state’s resources and the loan they took.

This is where Jang may be exonerated.  Though he left a debt for Lalong’s government, projects executed with the loans he took are all over the state for everyone to see. But that’s different in Lalong’s case where there is little or nothing to show for the huge debt. Aside from the British/America overhead bridge which he hurriedly completed in the twilight of his administration, Lalong has no tangible project to hold as a legacy. What he called ‘Legacy Projects’ in the state was a mere scam. Let succeeding Governors learn from the errors of their predecessors.