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President Muhammadu Buhari and the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) have clashed over the fresh loans Nigeria intends to borrow outside the shores of the land.
Buhari, had yesterday requested the Senate’s mid to borrow USD4,054,476,863.00 plus Euro 710,000,000.00 and Grant Component of USD 125,000,000.00 through a letter,titled:”addendum to the request for the Senate’s concurrent approval of multilateral fund projects under the 2018-2021 federal government external borrowing (rolling) plan”.
According to him, he decided to sought for addendum following other emerging needs and to ensure that all critical projects approved by Federal Executive Council (FEC) as at June 2021 are incorporated.
“The Projects listed in the addendum to the 2018-2021 Federal Government External Borrowing Plan are to be financed through sovereign loans from the World Bank, French Development Agency (AFD), China-EXIM Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Credit Suisse Group and Standard Chartered/China Export and Credit (SINOSURE) in the total sum of USD4,054,476,863.00 plus Euro 710,000,000.00 and Grant Component of USD 125,000,000.00,” Buhari, in his letter to the Senate said.
But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) punctured moves by the President Muhammadu Buhari to obtain external fresh loan of $4 billion, €710 million and $250 million.
It expressed concerns over the reckless borrowing by President Buhari and the APC, Nigerians might eventually not have a nation and a patrimony that they can freely call their own, after the APC, which has less than two years to vacate office.
The party’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, complained that with the N33.107 trillion debt already accumulated by President Buhari and the APC with nothing to show but decayed infrastructure and a depressed economy, an addition N5.62 trillion borrowing proposed by Buhari for the 2022 budget and now a fresh N2.66 trillion external loan, the APC will be hanging over N40 trillion debt on the nation, with no clear-cut repayment plan.
“More alarming is that the debts that APC is hanging on Nigerians are for nebulous projects whose scopes, utilities, locations and contractors are largely vague; a development that validates apprehensions of a huge swindle on our nation at the expense of innocent Nigerians, including generation yet unborn.
“Our party holds it as an act of wickedness that individuals who know that they will be leaving office in less than two years will be accumulating debts instead of seeking ways to reduce the liability they have brought upon our nation.
“The APC knows it will not be around after May 29, 2023. That is why it is pushing our nation into deeper economic quagmire with foreign loans, which are largely diverted to personal pockets of their corrupt leaders.
“Given their incompetence, corruption and manifest nonchalant attitude to the plights of Nigerians, the APC and its administration have not shown any commitment towards wealth creation as expected of any responsible government.
“Rather, they have resorted to reckless borrowing, pillaging of our national vault and suppression of our productive sectors; a development that have crippled our Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) to the extent that our naira, which the PDP handed over to the APC at N167 to a dollar, has now collapsed to a dismal and all-time low of N557 to a dollar under the APC,” the party said.
The party implored the National Assembly to save the nation by rising above partisan sentiments to reject this latest request by President Buhari for a fresh foreign loan.
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