Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
A Financial analyst and the Chairman Board of Trustees of Chartered Institute of Development and Social Studies , Mr. Shae Bebeyi has called on the federal government to shelve the idea of borrowing the proposed $22.7 billion, saying it will create more hardship for Nigerians.
This was even as a former President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria(ANAN), Dr. Samuel Nzekwe, has advised the Federal Government to make efforts to monitor and effectively use the borrowed funds for the intended purpose.
Bebeyi while speaking with newsmen in Lokoja on Wednesday questioned the rationale of borrowing before we could service the 2020 budget, saying rather than heal the economy, the debt will cause the economy to bleed in the nearest future.According to him, the Federal government should look inward in servicing the budget instead of going cap in hand to seek for foreign loans.
He worried that there has not been enough transparency and patriotism in the previous loans obtained for the country.
“Nigerians need to know about the billions of naira that have been recovered from the looters since the inception of this government, we also need to know what has happened to recovered loots from Abacha and how the billions of naira generated from oil revenues have been expended’’
Nzekwe said that the advice became necessary to avoid a situation where most of the borrowed funds will end up in individuals’ pocket.
“It has been observed in the past years that some capital projects were characterised by padding, over invoicing and poor quality of jobs,’’ he said.
The former ANAN boss noted that there was nothing bad in borrowing, if only the fund was used to finance infrastructure gap in the country.
Nzekwe said the Federal Government needed to borrow the amount to bridge the infrastructure gap in the country, thus creating the enabling environment for the productive sector to thrive.