By; IBRAHIM ADAMU, Kaduna
A Non Governmental Organization (NGO), AID Foundation has decried the high debt profile of the North West zone of Nigeria which stands at 1.2 trillion naira as of January 2024.
The Executive Director of the group, Emmanuel Bonet disclosed the staggering figure in Kaduna at a press conference on Monday, where he explained that the debt profile of the zone should be a thing of concern when compared with expectation of people and related development.
Seven states of North West Geopolitical zone are; Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara.
“Owing to this fact, the group is launching a competition that is aimed at eliciting the views of residents of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa and Kaduna state on the diverse ways in which they think that their state governments can source funds that will be used for development.
“There is a total token sum of seven hundred thousand to be contested for and won by residents of northwest Nigeria. Each contestant will either record a video or audio of not more than two minutes or write an essay of not more than 200 words outlining their suggestions of what they think their various state governments should do to generate additional sources of revenue that can be used for the development of their states.
“We believe, that for us to move progressively as a nation, our governments should explore other sources of funding while improving in the area of inclusion, transparency, accountability, and public finance management,” Bonet explained.
