By Yusuf Salihu Sansani, Jalingo
A former member of the House of Representatives for Wukari/Ibi Federal Constituency, Hon. Danjuma Usman Shiddi, has raised serious concerns over Taraba State’s growing debt burden, urging the State House of Assembly and key stakeholders to demand greater fiscal accountability and transparency from the current administration.
In an open letter addressed to the Taraba State House of Assembly, political leaders, and youth representatives, Shiddi, popularly known as Danji SS, warned that the state is “bleeding quietly” under the weight of mounting debts and unchecked borrowing.
According to him, “The pulse of Taraba State is getting faint, and if one listens closely enough, one can hear the low groan of a people whose future is being mortgaged without their consent.”
He described the situation as a silent financial crisis.
Shiddi alleged that within just two years under Governor Dr. Agbu Kefas, the state has accumulated debts and financial obligations exceeding ₦1.2 trillion, a figure he described as “unthinkable and unsustainable” for a state whose Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) stood at only ₦10.87 billion in 2023.
He cited multiple loan facilities, including ₦206.78 billion in bank loans approved in 2023, a ₦350 billion bond issued in early 2025, a $268.63 million (₦510 billion) facility from the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), and a ₦50 billion local government infrastructure loan from the United Bank for Africa.
Shiddi questioned the rationale behind these borrowings and the absence of tangible projects tied to them.
“The people were told that the EBID loan would fund energy, agriculture, and industrialization, all noble promises, yet, there is little or nothing on the ground to show for it,” he stated.
The former lawmaker further revealed that between mid-2023 and mid-2025, Taraba State and its local councils collectively received ₦437.21 billion in federal allocations, yet “the roads remain the same, the schools are dilapidated, hospitals are gasping for breath, and workers and pensioners continue to lament unpaid wages.”
Comparing Taraba’s fiscal posture to other states, Shiddi noted that while the governors of Zamfara, Nasarawa, and Ogun States have pursued sustainable growth through improved IGR, Taraba has leaned dangerously on borrowing.
“Our borrowing now exceeds what the state can earn in four years. That is not progress; it is a blunder, a slow strangulation of a people,” he warned.
He called on the Taraba State House of Assembly to invoke its constitutional oversight powers under Sections 128 and 129 of the 1999 Constitution to suspend new loan approvals pending a full audit and disclosure of existing debts.
“You were not elected to clap,” he told the lawmakers. “Oversight is not rebellion; it is responsibility. If you cannot represent the truth, then you are representing nothing.”
Shiddi urged Governor Kefas to redirect his administration’s vision toward productivity rather than debt accumulation, stressing that Taraba, blessed with vast land and mineral resources, could emulate Ogun State, which generated ₦126 billion in IGR through focused economic management.
He appealed to traditional rulers, elders, and community leaders to advise the governor to prioritize development driven by local capacity and innovation, not external borrowing.
“My intervention is not driven by malice but by patriotism, so that when history is written, it will be known that when Taraba was being drowned in silence, some of us spoke up, not out of anger, but out of duty. Because when truth dies, nations follow,” Shiddi concluded.
