The Kwara State government has exposed how two previous administrations used State owned properties to fraudulently enrich a few interest groups.
Addressing journalists in Ilorin, the State capital, the state government explained that the takeover of Shonga farm by AMCON was to recover the bad loans owned by the farm, blaming the unfortunate development on the administrations of former State Governor and President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and his successor, Abdulfatahi Ahmed .
The Kwara State government said out of the 13 autonomous farms set up with public funds, 9 had been sold with nothing paid into the State coffers even when the government hold a paltry 10% equity in each of the farms.
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The government said AMCON take over of the Kwara State property in Abuja is to recover the bad loans since 2007.
The State government said AMCON holds the State responsible because it was listed among the shareholders of the farms by previous administrations.
A statement by the former Chief Press Secretary to the immediate former Governor, Abdulfatahi Ahmed, Wahab Oba described the claims by the present administration as uninformed and false.
The statement noted that the administration of Abdulfatahi Admed and that of Bukola Saraki did not guarantee bank loans for Shonga Farm, maintaining that Shonga farm is a public-private partnership(PPP) funded under a debt-free-equity structure and owned by the State government, a consortium of banks and Zimbabwean farmers.
(Editor, Omor Bazuaye)
