• Senate grills
Amaechi, Adeosun over $5.5b loan request
• Probes
bailout, Paris Club funds
The Federal
Government needs a total of $36 billion to complete its rail projects across
the country.
The
Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, disclosed this yesterday at the
National Assembly just as the Senate subjected him and the Finance Minister,
Kemi Adeosun, to intense questioning over the Federal Government’s bid to
borrow another $5.5 billion.
Amaechi
said: “If you put it all together, the total cost of the entire rail projects
will amount to about $36 billion. Actually we don’t have the money but it’s an
ambitious plan. We really have to start something somewhere and see how far we
go.”
Amaechi, who
said President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that the rail line be extended to
cover all the 36 state capitals, informed the Shehu Sani-led Senate Committee
on Local and Foreign Debts that part of the $5.5 billion loan being sought
would fund the Itakpe to Warri, Kano to Kaduna and Port Harcourt to Calabar
aspects of the rail projects.
Buhari had
in a letter to the National Assembly requesting approval for the loan stated
that $2.5 billion, part of the proposed $5.5 billion loan, would be used for
the Mambilla Hydropower Project, construction of a second runway at the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport, counterpart funding for rail projects and the
construction of the Bode-Bonny road, with a bridge across the Opobo Channel.
The Senate
committee had raised queries regarding the impact of the planned borrowing of
$5.5 billion on the living standards of Nigerians.
Sani said:
“Some of the questions Nigerians, and indeed our constituents, have asked
repeatedly include: what has the Federal Government done with the reported
recovered loot allegedly traced to the previous administration? What role can
such recovered monies play in the 2017 budget financing? How much indeed has
been recovered? And has the National Assembly appropriated the recovered loot
for government expenditure?”
According to
him, all actions and decisions with respect to the loan request by his
committee and indeed the Senate would responsibly be done, and only on its
merit.
“l will
advise therefore, that as representatives of the president, you put your best
foot forward and be as convincing as possible with facts and figures for the
Senate to fully have your back, with respect to these requests.
“It has
become clear that if Nigeria must borrow, we must borrow responsibly, we cannot
afford to mortgage the future of our unborn generation. If we must bequeath to
the future generation a pile of debts, they must be justified with commensurate
infrastructural proof of the value of the debts,” he said.
The
committee observed that “the payment plan of the debts will undoubtedly last
the length of our lifetimes and possibly beyond. We must live behind a legacy
that will appease and answer the questions the next generation of Nigerians
will ask. We must not allow our children and grand children to be enslaved with
chains of debts.”
Adeosun, who
was represented by the Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience
Oniha, told the committee that the $2.5 billion part of the loan had already
been approved in the 2017 budget.
She further
explained that the $3 billion part was to upset local debts, adding that it was
not healthy to have such huge local debts hanging on the head of the nation.
“Borrowing
at 7% interest rate in the international market is cheaper than borrowing at
17% interest rate in the local market,” Adeosun noted.
Wondering
why the Federal Government could not resort to local resources in servicing the
local loans, the committee declared that it was important Nigerians were told
how the projects the loans would be used for would help in servicing and paying
the debts.
On the Abuja
airport project, the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Serika, said he did
not know the cost of the second runway which formed part of the projects on
which the $2.5 billion would be spent.
Also
yesterday, the Senate resolved to debate a motion asking it to investigate the
legality or otherwise of President Muhammadu Buhari’s approvals for bailout and
Paris Club refunds released to states so far.
Senator
Samuel Anyanwu from (APC, Imo State) drew the attention of his colleagues to
the issue of the funds given to governors by President Buhari. He sought to
know who gave the approval, since the National Assembly was not consulted
before the disbursement.
Anyanwu
said: “I am worried about the Paris club refunds. Governors are asking for more
funds. Where is this money from? The Senate has not given any approval. Who
gives the approval and what is the money for?
“I heard the
president scolding them. The president was asking them how they sleep at night
even when they do not pay salaries. They have received billions of naira. I
feel worried. Even the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has told the president to
stop giving bailout funds to governors. If you look at front pages of
newspapers, you will see the issue there. This is the problem. If my colleagues
will allow me, I want to bring this as a motion at our next legislative day. I
so submit.”
Senate
President Bukola Saraki sought the leave of his colleagues to approve that a
proper motion be brought to the floor at another legislative day.
The next
legislative day is October 24, 2017. Since no further comments were permitted
by Saraki, lawmakers thereafter agreed that Anyanwu should present a proper
motion at another next week.
President
Buhari, in 2015, some weeks after he assumed office, approved bailout funds to
states to settle salary arrears, without any recourse to the National Assembly.
On Tuesday
this week, governors again met with President Buhari before he departed for a
summit in Turkey and demanded the release of the outstanding Paris Club refunds
by November, to enable them to include it in their 2018 budget appropriation.
Addressing
journalists after the meeting with the president on Tuesday, Governor of
Zamfara State and Chairman of Governors Forum, Abdulaziz Yari, said they were
in the Villa to thank the president for the previous bailouts as well as the
Paris Club refund, which he said had helped them in meeting the obligations of
their states.
Besides, the
lawmakers yesterday decided to consider and resolve the periodic tragic clashes
between Nigeria and Cameroun border communities.
They
mandated the committees on police affairs and national security to look into
the contentious issues and report back to the Senate.
This
resolution was adopted on a point of order raised by John Enoh representing
Cross River Central during plenary.
Enoh, in his
presentation, affirmed that it was the duty of the Nigerian government to
protect its citizens from internal and external aggression as the affected
people from his political jurisdiction had been abandoned to their fate at the
hands of the Cameroonian aggressors.
Guardian
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