Alleged N423 billion fraud: How we spent W’Bank loans – El-Rufai’s former-aides

The state House of Assembly brought N423 billion fraud charges against the government of the immediate-past governor of Kaduna State, but former aides to the governor, Nasir El-Rufai, have refuted the accusations.

The former officials clarified that the El-Rufai administration used the various World Bank loans on various infrastructure and development projects in the state, including the Urban Renewal Program and various World Bank initiatives, in a statement released in Abuja on Friday.

El-Rufai and a few of his appointees were accused by the Kaduna State House of Assembly’s ad hoc committee of embezzling N423 billion in state funds. The committee was tasked with looking into all finances, loans, and contracts given under the previous governor.

As the assembly approved the 13-member panel’s report, it requested that Governor Uba Sani forward El-Rufai, his finance commissioner, and other assistants to the appropriate security authorities for further examination.

A panel to look into the claimed fraud was reportedly formed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after the report was made public.

However, in a statement signed by former Environment Commissioner Jafaru Sani, Human Services and Social Development Commissioner Hafsat Baba, Planning and Budget Commission Commissioner Umma Aboki, Finance Commissioner Bashir Saidu, and former Chief of Staff Umma Aboki, the former officials criticized the state assembly for not providing a certified true copy of the report despite repeated requests.

They said that a copy of the document that surfaced on social media during the House session on June 5, 2024, served as the basis for their rebuttal to the accusations made against them.

The declaration was presented by the former environment commissioner, Sani, who provided an explanation of how the loans were used. She stated, “The government of Malam Nasir El-Rufai inherited external debts of USD234m in 2015.” It obtained its financing in accordance with the law, as attested to by Aminu Shagali’s evidence, the speaker from June 2015 to the beginning of 2020.

“To enhance the delivery of its progressive governance agenda for Kaduna State, the El-Rufai Administration approached the World Bank for credit.

“The Board of the World Bank approved the credit in June 2017 as a Performance for Result credit of USD350m. The conditions for the grant of this credit were entirely performance-driven. Kaduna State is so far the only subnational in Nigeria that has received this kind of credit.

“Like other loans raised by the El-Rufai administration, the USD 350m World Bank Performance-for-Result loan was properly utilised in furtherance of the development of Kaduna State.

“The documentation submitted in support of the loan application was subjected to the due scrutiny of the fiscal authorities of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the board of the World Bank.’’

The statement also revealed that the World Bank has judged the P4R program’s implementation as adequate following its 2017–2021 run.

“Amongst the most visible fruits of this loan are the massive infrastructure projects under the Urban Renewal Programme,” it noted.

The former officials contended that the El-Rufai administration was responsible for initiating or funding the majority of the present administration’s projects, including large-scale health and education initiatives.

They declared that all contracts they worked on while they were employed adhered to the Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority Law’s due process requirements, using the framework contracting methodology to speed up project completion.

They also took issue with the committee’s utilization of results from a Deloitte audit that the El-Rufai administration had paid for, arguing that the results were invalidated and misused.

The statement emphasized possible conflicts of interest among the committee members by bringing up the fact that one of them, Mahmud Ismaila, is the governor’s biological brother.

“We will be providing detailed information about the various conflicts of interest among the committee members but one of the most glaring is the fact that an active member of the Ad-hoc Committee, Barrister Mahmud Ismaila, is also a biological brother of Governor Uba Sani,” they added.