Taraba Refutes over N200bn Indebtedness

Wole Ayodele in Jalingo

Taraba State government yesterday debunked insinuations that the administration of Darius Ishaku had plunged the state into indebtedness of over N200 billion.

Fielding questions from journalists during a media briefing on the 2023 approved budget, the State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Solomon Elisha, noted that the figures being bandied about were a figment of the imagination of opposition elements in the state.

According to him “I don’t know where they got their figures, but what I can tell you is that the state is not owing over N200 billion as its being speculated.

“Though I cannot claim that the state is not indebted, because government and debt is synonymous, but this administration has ensured that it does not incur loans unnecessarily and it must be in the best interest of the state.”

However, despite much pressure on the Commissioner to disclose the exact amount the state was owing, he declined from doing so as he told journalists that he would do so at a later date.

Nonetheless, he stressed that the government would not hesitate to obtain loan to execute projects that would impact the lives of the people of the state positively.

“The Ishaku administration would continue to borrow to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people of the state. Government and loans are inseparable,” he added.

Giving a breakdown of the approved 2023 budget, Elisha maintained that the estimates were based on some macroeconomic assumptions among which was the international oil price benchmark of $70 per barrel.

Other assumptions, according to him include oil production quota of 1.69 million barrels per day and an exchange rate of N435.57 to a dollar as well a national inflation rate of 17.16 per cent and GDP growth of 3.75 per cent.”

Part of the objective of the 2023 budget, according to him, is to step up revenue generation drive and reduce dependency on the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).