- Tinubu’s loans crushing Nigerians, says Atiku
Festus Okoromadu
Udeme Bassey
The Senate on Thursday at plenary approved the new external borrowing plan request of $2.2 billion presented for consideration by President Bola Tinubu.
The approval followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts.
The report was presented by the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Aliyu Wammako (APC -Sokoto).
President Tinubu had on Tuesday, November 19, in separate letters to both chambers of the National Assembly, requested for approval of a $2.2 billion external borrowing plan to part fund the N9.7 trillion deficit in the 2024 budget.
The Senate upon receipt of the request, mandated its Committee on Local and Foreign Debts to expeditiously ensure further legislative inputs on the request and report back within 24 hours.
Presenting the committee‘s report, Wammako said the presidential request was very necessary for approval.
He said the loan request would be utilised for execution of ongoing projects and programmes in the 2024 appropriation act, adding that the projects were critical for national growth and development.
“It will contribute to the implementation of the debt management strategy which seeks to reduce the cost of borrowing.
“It will lengthen maturity of the public debt stock, free up space in the domestic market for other borrowers and help increase Nigeria’s external reserves,” he said.
Wammako said Nigeria could raise all or part of the $2.2 billion through the issuance of Eurobonds in the International Capital Market (ICM).
Wammako thereafter recommended as follows: “That the Senate do approve the implementation of the new external borrowing of $2.2 billion at the budget exchange rate of one dollars to N800 in the 2024 appropriation act and that the amount should be raised from one or more sources.
“Namely, issuance of eurobonds in the ICM, issuance of debut sovereign Sukuk in the ICM, and bridge syndicated loans, subject to market conditions.”
The report was thereafter unanimously approved via an affirmative voice vote.
In his remarks after the approval, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau (APC-Kano), who presided at plenary, commended the Wammako-led committee for a job well done.
Tinubu’s loans crushing Nigerians, says Atiku
However, a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said that external loans being taken by President Bola Tinubu are bone-crushing to Nigerians and bringing insufferable pressure on the economy.
Atiku, in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, cited a recent World Bank report showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association.
The former vice president was reacting to Tinubu’s fresh loan request of $2.2 billion (N1.7trillion) approved by the Senate on Thursday.
Atiku said what made the latest loan more concerning was the fact that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1, 600 to 1 USD.
“Nigeria is sinking further in debt, and the National Assembly has become an accomplice once more. Tinubu had, in July this year, boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch have collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why then are they still borrowing? There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.
“These Tinubu’s loans are bone-crushing to Nigerians and bring insufferable pressure on the economy, especially when they are not properly negotiated and utilised.
“It is concerning that the voracious appetite for these humongous loans is powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. A report by Budgit, a budget watchdog, has disclosed that the 2024 Budget is a mess because of the level of pork associated with it.
“I feel a sense of personal agony seeing that just a few years after the administration of President Obasanjo took our country out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” Atiku said.
The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in the 2023 election said it’s time the administration applied more caution and arithmetic to the loan frenzy.
