The immediate past governor of Plateau state, Senator-elect Jonah Jang, has denied leaving a debt burden of N104 billion for the state as claimed by his successor, Simon Lalong.
He said his administration was only responsible for N18 billion out of the total debt profile of the state.
On Tuesday, the newly inaugurated Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Lalong, had while speaking to judiciary workers led by the state Chief Judge, Justice Pius Damulak, disclosed that Mr. Jang left a debt of N104 billion in his handover note to him.
“Governor Jonah Jang left a total debt of 104 billion Naira and owed civil servants and pensioners for seven months”, Gov. Lalong said.
Debunking the allegation on Wednesday in a press statement signed by his Special Assistant/Media Aide, Clinton Garuba, Jang said the claim was misleading.
The statement read in part: “The attention of the immediate past governor of Plateau State and Senator elect, Dr. Jonah David Jang has been drawn to a story making the rounds to the effect that he left the State with a debt profile of N104bn.
“While it is true that in the handover notes given to the new administration the debt profile is as made available to newsmen, it must be pointed out that the Jang administration did not borrow N104bn as is being insinuated in some quarters”.
Mr. Jang said while the total debt figure is true, he only borrowed N18bn with evidence of several developmental projects to show for it.
The senator-elect, therefore, counseled the Lalong led administration to focus on governance and stop the blame game.
“We advise Simon Lalong to focus less on trivialities and focus more on improving on our modest achievements while correcting our perceived mistakes because at the end of your administration, Plateau people will not judge him on the number of accusations and counter accusations but on the extent to which he has met their yearnings and aspirations”, the former governor said.
