High debt profile: Afenifere cautions FG

Pan- Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Thursday cautioned the Executive and Legislative arms of government against turning Nigeria into a perpetual debtor-nation where security and welfare of citizens get worsened, while the debt profile continues to increase.

Afenifere gave this admonition in a made issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, citing several instances of loans being borrowed by President Muhammadu Buhari- led administration and expressing dismay over the disclosure by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed and the Debt Management Office (DMO) that as much as 74 per cent of the country’s earnings go into debt servicing.

Records show that as of September 2021, Nigeria’s public debt was N38.005 trillion and has not stopped rising.

The pan-Yoruba group, while recalling Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan’s earlier vow that the National Assembly would continue to approve loan requests made by President Buhari, submitted that the quantum of debts incurred by this administration did not reflect in the quantity and quality of infrastructural developments in the country.

According to Afenifere, neither does the quantum of loans so obtained reflect in the living standard of Nigerians, saying it a matter of fact “looks as if the more Nigeria is sinking into the debt dungeon, the more the standard of living goes down.”

“It is apparent that the more money Nigeria earns along with monies being obtained in form of loans and grants, the more the welfare of Nigerians suffer,” the group said.

Afenifere urged the National Assembly to stop acceding to every loan request being made by the Executive henceforth.

While alluding to the announced N250billion to be borrowed from World Bank “to solve environmental degradation in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),” Afenifere maintained that states in the southern part of the country deserve attention too “when we talk of environmental degradation.”

“It is a known fact that a lot of places particularly in the South-East and South-South have been rendered almost useless by incessant erosion. Such places equally deserve similar attention,” the group stated.

It would be recalled that the Coordinator of Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, Salisu Dahiru, was quoted to have said that the said loan was being sought “to address the issue and challenges of environmental degradation in terms of deforestation, erosion, stormwater management and meeting the needs of the people in terms of food production.”

Ajayi, however, maintained that all the points raised to justify the project equally applied to the South.

“Other than desertification that is greater in the North leading to poor water storage, all other issues mentioned equally apply to the South. There, however, is no doubt that the activities of bandits and terrorists are far more responsible for the inadequate food production in the North and even in the South-Western parts of the country in recent times.

“Meaning that if terrorism was not brought to an end, the loan committed to such a project in the North might just go down the drain as it may not achieve the announced reasons for obtaining it,” the Afenifere chieftain said.

Beyond the issue of the propriety or non-propriety of the said project, Ajayi insisted that the government should stop its tendency to go a borrowing each time it thinks of executing a project, wondering what happened to monies being generated from local and other foreign sources as well as several billion recovered from corrupt public officials as announced at various times by the Buhari- led administration, among others.

“Where do monies being generated from local and other foreign sources go? What about several billion recovered from corrupt public officials as announced at various times by this administration? Apart from regular payment of salaries, where do these monies go? Comrade Ajayi queried.

“So, again, where are the monies being earned locally and from foreign transactions going?” he further queried.

Afenifere spokesman asserted that these questions were germane in view of the failure of the government to fulfil even the agreements it freely entered into such as the ones with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), among others, saying there was the need to remember that most of the major projects being executed especially in the transport sector were being financed by loans.

According to him, these questions are warranted because of the suspicion that corruption is very much at play under this administration that taunted the fighting of corruption as one of its cardinal objectives of coming into power.

On the lopsidedness nature of appointments being made by the Buhari administration, Afenifere demanded an explanation from the Federal Government on why Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko, a Northerner, would be the one to succeed Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman and Mr Habib Abdullah, both of whom are Northerners, as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority.

“Does it mean that there is no person from any of the three geo-political zones in the South that could hold that office such that it would only be persons from the northern part who are qualified to head that office one after the other? the pan- Yoruba group queried.

“It has been repeatedly, but regrettably, observed that each time a position occupied by a Southerner is vacant, such a position is filled by a Northerner whereas a Southerner is not made to take up an office vacated by a Northerner. Yet, such offices ought to be for all Nigerians. Such does not promote national unity,” it observed.

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