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May 29, 2015. Nasir El Rufai, became a chiropractor, a Greek word for “done by hand” which is translated in English as simply “a healer.” El Rufai was to heal Kaduna from distress the previous administration allegedly led them into. With strength and vigour, fists clenched and lines right; he promised “Kaduna will be great again.”
As expected, a throng of multitudes at the Murtala Muhammad Square chirped gleefully. They had just experienced dastard attacks of their life; kidnapping and killing of over 4000 of their kindred spirits. While they had lost their hopes on the Mukhtar Yero administration, they all believed, presumably, El Rufai was the next Messiah to bring an end to the budding felony, gambling their peace on a minefield. But they were all wrong.
Gunmen attacks multiplied under El Rufai. Securing life and properties became a luxury. According to the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), under El Rufai, Kaduna faced the worst security challenges. It was so grievous that only 5 of 23 local governments were safe from banditry and all-inclusive security menaces. El Rufai can confirm this as his children even faced the threats of kidnapping, leading him to withdraw them from a Kaduna public school in 2021. Until the end of his eight years administration, El Rufai cannot boast that he eradicated a tiny part of insecurity in Kaduna. Yet, the former Governor spent a fortune on tackling insecurity.
In an HumAngle report, earlier ‘hyperlinked’, there were indications, instinctively pointed out by one Kaduna Citizen, that half of Kaduna’s funds today, disappeared through negotiation of El Rufai with bandits. This may be a fair bet that culminated into what added up to the State’s growing debts. Be it or not, what is known is that El Rufai exponentially increased the Kaduna State debts yet with little efforts to show.
The former Governor El Rufai, took the State from penny to penury on debts. For eight years (2015 to 2023), the State had over N252bn added up to its existing N96bn debts in 2015. Under the new Government, the journey of the debts will continue and probably, leaves the State with little effect, as its predecessor did.
The El Rufai administration debts, totalling both domestic and external debts, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO), will have the new Governor, Sani Uba, faced with more precarious challenges. Uba will be sandwiched between either the public concern of lowering the debts or political prestige of multiplying them. While the latter is feasible, indications of what El Rufai left behind, have shown that the former remains in the fog of impossibility.
Kaduna State domestic debt was just ₦49bn as of December 31, 2015. Its external debt was also $234m (naira equivalent: ₦46bn at ₦199/$1) as of June 30, 2015. The sum of all the 2015 debts were ₦96bn, when calculated.
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Bizarrely, by the time El Rufai would leave the office after his eight years in 2023, DMO report shows that the State’s domestic debt rose to ₦87bn while its external debt, $569m (naira equivalent: ₦261bn at N460/$1), as of June 30, 2023. Calculating both the 2015 and 2023 debts, the result showed ₦349bn.
By statistics, El Rufai repressed Kaduna State to increasing its domestic debt by 75.10%, totalling ₦4.6m annually while its external debt 142.89%, totalling $41,870,044.34, annually in just eight years. Yet, the major purpose of these debts lacked substance, a year later he left office.
El Rufai left some serious challenges in Kaduna. The past excellency, whose administration is under probe by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) over a N423bn fraud, left all the challenges for Uba and added a robust crown of debts. Uba will deal with debts and the die hard suffering of Kaduna citizens which refuse to be remedied even with plethora of support funds, grants and budget of billions.
Kaduna still ranks second in the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBE) data analysing the number of out-of-school children in 2022. The data cited here leaves Kaduna with a total of 23,249 out-of-school children.
In a developing narrative, Governor Uba claimed the statistics from 2022 to 2024, rose to 680,000 but were reduced to over 300,000 by his administration. This statistics looks contestable, especially with no statistical evidence coming from the State Government to show for it. The last data from the Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics on out-of-school children in 2020 shows that “31.1% of children within the primary school age are out of school. This percentage represents 535,353 children.” El Rufai expressed his devotion to emancipating Kaduna from illiteracy to the point of threatening, under his administration. Sadly, this devotion did not encroach out of his mind to a full-fledged implementation yet debts took a cube root.
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Enoch Oyedibu
Neck-deep Investigative Journalist, Fact-checker and writer-I provide support for marginalised communities through strategic investigative reporting, holding power to account and airing the underrepresented communities' concerns. I firmly believe in giving voices to the underreported communities in Nigeria and Africa. This has, however, made me contribute to multiple publications and projects that exposed corruption, injustice, and human rights violations. I am passionate about journalism and its role in creating positive change in the world. I lead a group of professional investigators at the PIJAlance Magazine Research and Investigations Desk (RID). If you have a story, check 'contact us' to hit me.