The Kwara State government on Thursday accused past administrations in the state of siphoning public funds in the name of Shonga Farm.
The state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo (SAN), disclosed this at a press briefing in Ilorin, the state capital.
The government was reacting to the recent seizure of state properties by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in Abuja.
Also at the briefing were the state’s Commissioner for Communication, Bode Towoju, and Group Managing Director of Harmony Holding, Abdullahi AbdulMajeed.
Jawondo said the Shonga Farm Holdings established by former governor Bukola Saraki’s administration under its agriculture revolution programme started with huge loans of more than N5billion which the previous administrations failed to pay.
He said: “Nine out of the 13 autonomous farms have been sold out without remittances to the public coffers, even when the government is supposed to hold a paltry 10 percent equity in each of the farms.
“AMCON’s takeover of two state properties is to recover the bad loans that the farm owes a consortium of banks that invested in it dating back to 2007 because Shonga Farm Holdings could not pay back on the agreed timeline.”
