Ramalan Yero left only N228m, not N8bn —El-Rufai

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in his new office

Kaduna State  Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai  yesterday denied claims by  immediate past Kaduna State government under Alhaji Ramalan Yero that it left behind, N8 billion in cash for El Rufai’s incoming government.

Former Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga, who served under Yero, had last week claimed at a function, that Yero had left N8 billion in the coffers of the statae government. He also decried the annulment of proposed Kaduna State University of Science and Technology, Kafanchan by Governor El Rufai.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, Governor El- Rufai’s spokesman, Samuel Aruwan debunked Bajoga’s claims.

Aruwan said: “The Kaduna State Government had N228,333,371.67 in its central account on May 29,  2015. This represents the working capital that could be spent.

“All other items in the bank balance are committed funds, and are not available to be spent by government. These include counterpart and reserve funds clearly earmarked for specific purposes such as Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Subsidy Re-investment Empowerment  Programme SURE-P and State Pensions, and as such cannot be termed available funds by any responsible government.”

Source: Vanguard