As Buhari’s $29.9bn loan request sparks public fears
During his electioneering, President Muhammadu Buhari literally promised “heaven on earth” for Nigerians if voted into power.
From giving a monthly stipend of N5, 000 to 25 million
poor Nigerians, to the creation of a Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme to
create at least one million new jobs every year, to the creation of an
additional middle class of at least two million new homeowners in his first
year in government and one million annually thereafter; the list of promises
was endless.
It’s
over a year since the President was elected as the chief executive officer of
the country, yet many of the promises made to Nigerians have yet to
materialise.
Expectedly, many Nigerians have since started expressing
how disappointed they are regarding the President’s failure to fulfil his
campaign promises.
However,
President Buhari has on several occasions said he is still committed to delivering
his campaign promises to Nigerians, and has, however, never stopped blaming the
immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples
Democratic Party for the country’s problems, including the current economic
recession.
He
has accused the former President and his party of “extravagantly” spending
public funds and leaving almost nothing for him to spend on development.
So,
it is believed that Buhari has been seeking several means to get funds to,
according to him, provide infrastructure and bail the country out of its
current economic crisis.
In
September 2016, the Federal Government approached the African Development Bank
for a $4.1bn (N1.29tn) loan, which was approved by the bank.
The
President of the bank, a former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina,
said the loan package includes $1bn in budget support, $300m to create jobs for
185,000 youths, $250m to provide infrastructure development in the North-East,
$1m grant to deal with the challenges of Internally Displaced Persons, $300m
for infrastructure development around Abuja, and $200m for the Transmission
Company of Nigeria to improve its facilities, among others.
Saying
that Nigeria was the largest shareholder in the bank, Adesina said the bank was
in the country to offer its support in the face of the tough time in the
country.
A
month after this development, specifically on October 25, 2016, the Federal
Government again disclosed that it was planning to borrow $29.9bn (N9.4tn) from
the World Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Islamic
Development Bank and the China Exim Bank.
Asking
the National Assembly to approve the external borrowing plan, the Federal
Government said the $29.9bn loan would be used to execute key infrastructure
across the country between 2016 and 2018.
Buhari
said the borrowings would target projects across all sectors, with special
emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply,
employment generation, poverty reduction through social safety net programmes,
governance and financial management reforms, among others.
If
the loan request is ratified by the National Assembly, the Federal Government
said it would take $25.8bn out of the money, while states would get $4.1bn.
However, several experts said borrowing a “whopping” $29.9bn
by the Federal Government was tantamount to jeopardising the future of the
country.
Punch
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