… laments FG’s ‘nonchalant attitude’ to debt crisis
Its Executive Director, Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, in a
statement at the weekend, condemned President Muhammadu Buhari-led
administration’s casual approach toward the devastating financial problems
facing the nation.
He said borrowing to fund post-fuel subsidy removal
palliatives was strange, noting that “if the fuel subsidy removal process has
been suspended as announced by Minister of Finance after the NEC meeting at the
end of April, then the government should return the borrowed money because what
are we taking the loan for?”
Rafsanjani said fears of the country getting another
$800million loan from the World Bank was a source of worry to Nigerians as the
country’s revenue collection in 2022 stood at N10 trillion, with a debt of
about N77 trillion.
He also condemned
what he described as reckless spending during the end of the Buhari
administration, saying it was totally unnecessary and a clear sign of diversion
of public funds for personal interests and not for the overall good of the
country.
“In 2022, Nigeria paid about N7 trillion in fuel subsidy,
and in 2023 from January to June when the country intends to stop paying the
subsidy, it is N3.6 trillion, so if we are paying such whopping amount of money
when subsidy is removed, we should have enough savings instead of taking
additional loans, we can use the subsidy funds for post fuel subsidy removal.
“As a matter of fact, we don’t need to borrow. What we need
to do is to cut waste. Just recently, we saw the Minister of Aviation announce
he bought 10 fire fighting trucks for over N12 billon, is this what we are
borrowing to spend on?
“Also, we read that the Minister of Communication and
Digital Economy announced the approval of 24.2 billion to provide internet
facilities at airports and some institutions amongst other places. These are
the things we are spending on few weeks before the end of this administration
and this is unacceptable.”
The CISLAC boss called on the country’s financial watch-dogs
to spotlight all public spendings that have not followed adequate procurement
process.
“What’s the need acquiring fighter trucks towards the end of
an administration, a position you have held for over eight years, but you
found no need to acquire the trucks
until the end; this is a clear sign of contract scams that doesn’t follow due
process and public interest, it is
simply financial recklessness.
“Also the Minister of Communications had gone ahead to get
an approval of FEC for N24.2 billion for internet access at airports and
universities, but these are services that naturally should be done by service
providers. Nigeria is already in another debt trap. Records from both national
and international financial and debt institutions regarding Nigeria’s debt
reveal a state in crisis.”