Kwara state government Thursday said it has commenced negotiations to retrieve it’s two properties siezed by the Asset Management Coporarion of Nigeria (AMCON) over debt incured in the names of Shonga farms holdings by former administration in the state.
The goverment said the state had been fraudulently negotiated into underwriting the debts incurred by the former administrations in the name of Shonga farm.
It said the venture was funded 100% at inception with taxpayers money but without any gains accruing to the people of the state under whatever guise.
The state government made the declaration at a press briefing to explain the recent take over of two Kwara properties by Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) owing to about N1.7bn debts of the shonga farm.
The government said more than a cumulative sum of N5bn of public funds and loans secured with the government as guarantor have been sunk into the agricultural project with no traces of any dividends to the people of the state.
The press briefing was jointly addressed by Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice Salman Jawondo (SAN); Commissioner for Communication Hon. Bode Towoju; Special Adviser to the Governor of Political Matters Lateef Alakawa; Special Adviser to the Governor of Political Communication Bashir Adigun; and Group Managing Director of Harmony Holdings Abdullahi AbdulMajeed.
The government said out of the 13 autonomous farms set up with public funds, nine had been sold out with no kobo paid to the public coffers, even when the government is supposed to hold a paltry 10% equity in each of the farms.
The government explained that the reason AMCON took over the Kwara properties in Abuja is to recover the bad loans that the farm owes a consortium of banks that invested in it dating back to 2007 because the Shonga Farm Holdings could not pay back on the agreed timeline.
It said AMCON had to hold the state responsible because it is listed among the shareholders of Shonga Farms Holdings Ltd, even though its share — allocated to it only after public noise in the early 2000s — is not anywhere commensurate with its huge investments in the project.
Asked why the government has not taken legal action against the perpetrators of the alleged fraud, Jawondo said crimes perpetrated through fronts and companies take years to unrave.
He however assured that government will take action once it gathers every document necessary to do so, including files and transactions tucked away by previous officials.
Photo caption: L-R: Special Adviser (Political Matters) to the Kwara State Governor Abdullateef Gidado Alakawa; Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the State Bar. Salman Ayinla Jawodo (SAN); GMD of Harmony Holdings Limited Alhaji Abdulmajeed Abdullahi; and Commissioner for Communications Hon. Towoju Olabode George; during a press conference on the AMCON take over of Kwara assets as a result of Shonga Farms Debt, in Ilorin, on Thursday.
