Adamawa received N21 bn in three months, I left N700m — Fintiri

Adamawa received N21 bn in three months, I left N700m — Fintiri

October 21, 2014 Austin Ajayi

Acting Governor Of Adamawa state, Ahmed Fintiri

The sacked Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri, has denied plundering the state to the tune of N18billion, as alleged by those he described as detractors and political foes.
Mr. Fintiri, who addressed a press conference Tuesday evening in Yola, said his administration had an income of over N21 billion in his three-month tenure, out of which N20 billion was expended.
Mr. Fintiri said he left over N708 million in the state coffers, and insisted that he followed due process in the award of contracts for projects during the period of his stay as acting governor.
There have been unsubstantiated reports that the former acting governor squandered billions of state funds.
Mr. Fintiri said when he assumed leadership of the state, the financial position of the state was poor due to high level of indebtedness.
He claimed within the roughly 90 days he introduced measures that saved the state economy from an imminent collapse.
At the time he took charge, the state owed liquid cash of over N12.8 billion to a bank, and for over three years the state government paid salaries through overdraft, the former acting governor, who is now the speaker of the House of Assembly, said.
“The monthly interest on overdraft dropped from N100m monthly to zero naira ,the repayment of term loan also dropped from N1 Billion to N311 m monthly and the repayment of overdraft dropped from N3.5 billion zero naira,” he said.
“The state was paying about N100 million monthly as interest on overdraft, term loan repayments of about N1Billion monthly ,and overdraft repayment of N3.5 billion monthly.”
He alleged that the state was made vulnerable to exploitation by the bank.
“Furthermore, it has been established that the bank charged the account of the state by over N11 Billion in interest and other charges, “he said.
Mr. Fintiri also said the state lost an estimated N7billion in bank charges alone.
He said on assumption of office, the administration the services of professionals who helped saved the state from drowning in debt and brought about financial stability.
He listed a few of the expenditures incurred to include N500m as constituency projects, N539m counterpart funding, and N247m as vehicles allowances among many others.