FG?s Demand Of US$1b Loan Meets More Obstacles

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the National Assembly to

properly scrutinize the puzzling request by President Goodluck

Jonathan for a 1-billion-dollar loan to fight the insurgent group Boko

Haram, saying the Administration has no business borrowing money if it

had accounted for US$20 billion in oil funds or plugged the official

stealing of 300,000 barrels of oil per day.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity

Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said even if the missing oil

fund is only between 10 and 12 billion dollars as admitted by the FG,

the amount represents more than 10 times the fund which the FG is now

seeking to borrow under conditions that are yet unknown.

It described as disingenuous and sheer blackmail the argument that the

money is for national security or that it would facilitate the release

of the over 200 school girls who were abducted about 100 days ago.

?That argument is hollow. In the first instance, trillions of Naira

have been allocated yearly ? in the past few years ? for security and

defence, yet the fight against the insurgents rages on with deadly

consequences. Secondly, the only reason the school girls have remained

in captivity is the sheer cluelessness and incompetence on the part of

the Jonathan Administration, which waited for all of 19 days before

even admitting that the girls were kidnapped in the first instance.

?Therefore, putting more money in the hands of an incompetent and

massively corrupt Administration can only encourage more incompetence

and corruption. That is why we are asking the National Assembly to put

national interest above all other considerations by taking a

dispassionate, non-partisan look at the President?s request.

?What we are saying in essence is that the National Assembly must

summon security and military chiefs to explain how the huge funds

allocated to security sector in the past has been spent, before more

funds can be pumped into the sector. They must be asked what happened

to the military equipment said to have been procured in recent years.

?They must also inquire from the Administration why it should be

borrowing 1 billion dollars when it has yet to account for the missing

20-billion-dollar oil money, plug the daily stealing of 300,000 bpd

and unravel the massive frauds that have hallmarked the tenure of this

Administration (pension fraud, oil subsidy scam, Malabu fraud etc). If

after all the scrutiny, the National Assembly still feels it must

approve the loan, so be it, but it (National Assembly) must know that

its own integrity and credibility are on the line,? APC said.

The party also reminded Nigerians that the Nigerian civil war, which

lasted three years, was prosecuted by the government without resorting

to any external borrowing, due to competent and transparent management

of the nation?s economy.

?On the contrary, trillions of Naira have been pumped into the Boko

Haram war in the past five years, and Nigerians still do not have any

indication of how soon the insurgency will end or what happened to the

huge allocated funds. Instead, what the tax payers are being asked to

do is to shell out more funds to finance the incompetence and

corruption of a reckless Administration, whose officials fly around

the world in jets that burn billions of Naira but cannot allow them to

be probed by the National Assembly,? it said.

APC wondered why the Jonathan Administration that roundly pilloried

Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno State, when he alerted Nigerians to the

need to adequately equip and motivate our men and women in uniform,

has now turned around to admit that the military needs modern hardware

to fight the insurgency.

The party said it aligns with those who have cautioned against the

National Assembly giving a blank cheque to the Administration, due to

its inability to account for the past budgetary allocations for the

security and defence, as well as its sheer cluelessness and palpable

?This year alone, 20 per cent of the total national budget of 4.962

trillion Naira, which is about 968.127 billion naira, was allocated to

Defence. How much of that money has been released so far and how has

the funds been spent? What about the equally huge allocations in the

previous years?.

?With the Jonathan Administration allegedly spending or setting aside

an average of 2 billion Naira to impeach each Governor of APC states,

and the PDP-led Administration using the common wealth to bribe voters

in a desperate bid to win elections at all costs, approving the

1-billion-dollar loan may amount to giving more ammunition to the

Administration to stifle the nation?s democracy or even threaten the

very existence of the country,? it said

Alhaji Lai Mohammed

National Publicity Secretary

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