The governor, however, gave assurance that things were going to change for the better.
Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has said that he inherited a bankrupt state when he took over from his predecessor, Bello Matawalle on May 29, 2023.
Lawal stated this on Wednesday evening at an interactive session with Zamfara professionals in Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
“The Zamfara State we inherited is in a bad state. At the time we took over, Zamfara was bankrupt with nothing left.
“It is a state where we inherited so many bad things,” he said while responding to questions and comments from professionals from the state.
The governor, however, gave assurance that things were going to change for the better.
Lawal said that he inherited a three-month salary backlog with no funds to pay the civil servants, adding that when he took over, the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) examination was already over and students in the state could not take it as the state owed the examination body.
“Fortunately for us, NECO (National Examinations Council) is about to start and if we did not do anything, the children may not write the exam,” he said.
He said that though the state owed WAEC about N1.6 billion and NECO about N1.4 billion which had made the students to be unable to sit for the examinations in the past, his government had recently paid off NECO’s debt.
“This is something that is verifiable. Outside security, education is key because, without education, we are going nowhere,” he said.
He said when he came in, Zamfara had 28 ministries which have now been reduced to 16 ministries
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the professionals offered advice on how the government could problems of insecurity, youth empowerment, among others.