Senate representing Enugu West Senatorial District, Ike Ekweremadu has taken a swipe at the Federal Government for its decision to obtain loans from China, noting that the country is likely to fall into the Asian country’s debt-trap diplomacy in the event of its inability to repay the loans.
The senator also described as quite unnecessary the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Executive Order number 10 which grants financial autonomy to both the Legislature and the Judiciary at the State level.
Ekweremadu who made this known in Enugu, Friday, recalled that in the 8th Assembly, they had passed a constitutional amendment, part of which was regarding the issue of the independence of the judiciary and State Houses of Assembly.
“We believed that they should be on the first line charge. When we passed the amendment, the president dutifully signed them into law and they are self-executing” he said.
He maintained that they had expected states to go ahead and work out their own modalities, adding that by signing the order, the president has simply mutilated some aspects of the constitution by suggesting to states how to manage their funds.
On the country’s loan deals, the Senator said the present administration has borrowed more than any other administration in the history of the country, even as the source of the borrowing is very worrisome.
The Federal government had, Thursday asked the National Assembly to approve a total of N5.51 trillion external borrowing to fund its revised 2020 budget. The new request, Nigeria’s total debt will be around N41.6 trillion when approved.
Recall that earlier this year, a similar request was approved by the National Assembly amounting to $22.798 billion (N8.7 trillion) which added to the 2019 year-end figure of N27.4 trillion.
According to Ekweremadu, the fact that countries borrow money from time to time is not in doubt, but the question usually is where exactly are they borrowing from and why are they borrowing.
The senator who explained that most of the funds Nigeria has borrowed were from China, said it would be easier if the country sought external loans from multilateral institutions like International Monetary Funds, the World Bank, since it can easily talk about debt forgiveness when it is unable to repay the loans.
“But you cannot talk of debt forgiveness with a country such as China,” he said, adding that the Chinese government had to take over assets in such countries as Zambia and Sri Lanka because the countries were unable to pay their loans.
He further noted that out of the five airports that are currently being worked on, including Enugu, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Kano and Abuja, only that of Enugu is financed through direct appropriation.
“The implication, therefore, is that if the country is unable to pay for the other four that are being financed by China, they will take over the airports. That is the problem that comes with borrowing from some specific countries” he said.
He further regretted that not all sections of the country have felt the impact of the loans which are said to be used in financing infrastructural projects across the country.
“Another question Is, what we are using the loans we are collecting for. We say it is infrastructure. But the infrastructure has not gone round the country. If you are borrowing money and you are using it to work in some parts of the country and leaving others behind, there is a problem because everybody is going to pay” he said.
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