NGScorecard

Governor Lawal says his administration inherited a treasury containing only ₦4 million alongside overwhelming, largely undisclosed liabilities when he took office on 29 May 2023.

The administration has since grown monthly IGR from roughly ₦80 million to over ₦5 billion and signed successively larger annual budgets (₦426.6bn in 2024 to ₦871.3bn in 2026).

The incoming administration inherited three to four-and-a-half months of unpaid civil servant salaries, ₦1.6 billion owed to the judiciary, and debts to WAEC (variously reported at ₦1.4-1.6bn) and NECO (variously reported at ₦1.02-1.4bn) that had left Zamfara students unable to sit the 2023 WAEC exam and results withheld for up to five years.

The administration cleared the WAEC and NECO debts, secured the release of the withheld results, and resumed prompt salary payment.

Retirees had reportedly not been paid pensions since 2011, with arrears variously estimated at ₦13.6 billion to ₦16.5 billion by the time Lawal took office.

The administration says it settled outstanding pension and gratuity arrears for retirees, including teachers, and has since ensured prompt monthly payment.

The Debt Management Office recorded Zamfara's domestic debt rising from ₦96.31 billion to ₦110.57 billion between June and December 2023, a ₦14.26 billion increase, alongside external borrowing that contributed to a combined $125.1 million in foreign debt reported across eight states including Zamfara.

Governor Lawal publicly denied his administration had taken on any new loans since 29 May 2023, attributing the recorded increase to the outgoing Matawalle government; no independent reconciliation of which administration incurred the specific debt was identified for this entry.