Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, the immediate past Governor of Kwara State, has dismissed recent claims that his administration guaranteed bank loans for Shonga Farm Holdings as “uninformed and false”.
Wahab Oba, Media Aide to Ahmed, made the position of the former two-term Governor known in a statement on Friday.
Wahab also said in the statement in Ilorin that the Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki administration did not guaranty any loan for the farm.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Ahmed, who was Commissioner of Finance when Shonga Farms was established and whose administration created Harmony Holdings Limited, the SFH’s supervisory company, said Shonga Farms is a Public Private Partnership project.
It was funded under a debt-equity structure and owned by the State Government, a consortium of banks and Zimbabwean farmers.
The former governor maintained that the Kwara State Government invested in the project through infrastructure for the farms and its communities such as roads, electricity, water and security infrastructure that are still intact.
SFH, he revealed, secured bank loans for expansion using its assets as collateral, adding that a state government can only guarantee a loan through its Federal Allocation, which was never pledged.
Ahmed reiterated that not all businesses are thriving, stressing that while the poultry business remains viable, the dairy syndicate stagnated when a global milk company cancelled its off-taker arrangement with the SFH.
The mixed crop section, he explained, stalled due to irrigation problems as a result of Federal Government reneging on its promise to assist with irrigation.
The ex-Governor however said some of the farms secured new investment to pay off their loans to the banks through SFH, which has paid over N600 million out of an outstanding N900 million to AMCON.
He therefore exonerated the previous two administrations of any wrongdoing in exploiting a business opportunity that attracted investments into the state, developed the local community and placed the state on the global map.
According to him, the SFH attracted foreign and local investments above $100 million and has created over 4,000 direct and indirect local jobs besides knowledge transfer to the local community.
He maintained that his and the Saraki’s administrations followed due process in all transactions relating to the SFH, a quality that earned the state government a high ranking from the global rating agency, Fitch.
While acknowledging that the SFH financing model was innovative, Ahmed advised the state government to seek clarifications from professionals rather than indulging in theatrics capable of discouraging investment in the state.
The former governor also urged the state government to focus on surpassing investment inflows recorded during the previous administrations, including Dangote Industries and BUA Sugar Company.
NAN also recalls that the Kwara State Government had on Thursday accused the administrations of Ahmed and Saraki of wrongdoings, describing the establishment of Shonga Farm as a scam.
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