World Bank Won’t Grant Loan To Any State Without Kaduna – El-Rufai

Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, says the World Bank will not grant loan to any Nigerian state if his sate is not included.

The Senate had a fortnight ago rejected the request of the governor to secure a 350 million dollar loan for Kaduna State.

The lawmakers rejected the request on the premise that obtaining the loan may put so much pressure on the management of the state which presently has a debt burden of $232.1 million.

Kaduna is among the states which applied for loan from World Bank but while the senate approved the facility for others, it rejected that of El-Rufai’s state.

But speaking on Monday, the governor said the refusal of the Senate to approve the loan request was political.

El-Rufai said this while declaring open the 2018 law week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Kaduna branch, with theme “Curbing corruption and insecurity in Nigeria: Legal and political perspectives

The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Barnabas Bala Bantex, wondered why the request was thrown out despite meeting all conditions.

“World Bank won’t grant loan to any state without Kaduna… the World Bank has a moral burden to deal with. How do we handle not approving or not giving out a loan for which a state government is fully qualified and approve to others, which I wouldn’t say are less qualified? That is the moral issue facing the World Bank,” he said.

“Insecurity and corruption are the major set back to any nation. When there is corruption, it ruins the economy and retards development. Insecurity discourages foreign investors.

“For us to tackle these, there must be a synergy with stakeholders like the NBA and the judiciary.”