Kogi state to borrow $12m to buy cars for commissioners and others despite the recession.

 Kogi state government led by Governor Yahaya Bello is alleged to be set to plunge the state into debt as it is set to purchase 109 cars for traditional rulers, House of Assembly members, Commissioners local government administrators at a whooping sum of $12m.
According to these documents and signed by the state’s commissioner for Finance, Asiru Idris, dated June 9, shows that the $12m will be a loan from Zenith bank with an interest rate of 8% repayable for 3 years.

Investigation by our reporter further revealed that the contract for the supply of 55 Toyota Prado Jeeps, 29 Camry Cars, 11 Corollas and 14 Land Cruiser Jeeps (all 2016 model). The cost of the vehicles is N2,899,000,000 with the breakdown as- 11 Toyota corolla at N143million (13million per unit); 29 Camry Cars N551 million (N19m per unit); 55 Toyota Prado VXL at N1,650 billion (N30 million each); 5 Land Cruisers V8 VXR  at N240million (48 million per unit) and 9 Land Cruisers V8 VXR at N315 million ( N35million per unit).

It also remain a mystery how the state government and the contractor arrived at the $12m price for the contract as our conversion using the CBN rate of N310.17 to $1 shows that N2,899,000,000 billion is  $6935406.699 while the black market rate at N418 is $9346487.41 It is unclear where the remaining over $3million or $6million will go. More worrisome, the Kogi state government has offered to pay in Dollars thereby violating CBN rules just as the said $12m loan will be repaid via Internally Generated Revenue which in turn will translate to increase in taxies and levies on the already impoverished Kogi citizens.


Efforts to speak both the Kano based contractor, Philko Ltd and the Kogi state commissioner for Finance and development, Asiwaju Asiru Idris was not successful. While the Mr Asiru did not pick calls placed to his telephone, the contractor did not respond to mails sent to its official email.


As Nigeria’s economy continue to swim in recession, governments at all levels are expected to cut costs by prioritizing projects that will have direct positive impact on the lives of the citizenry, but it remains unknown as to how the luxury cars will improve the economy of the confluence state.