…Says Borrowed Funds Are Being Looted By APC Leaders
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alerts that the outcry by the
Chairman of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council
(EAC), Dr. Doyin Salami, over accumulation of debt and high spending by
the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration confirms
our position that the Buhari Presidency and the APC have wrecked our
nation.
The “State of the Nation” revelation by Dr. Salami that our nation’s
debt profile under Buhari has become “unmaintainable”, at N35 trillion
and growing; with an alarming debt service-to-revenue ratio of 97.7
percent, further confirms that President Buhari and the APC have finally
mortgaged our national patrimony to foreign interests.
Dr. Salami’s revelation only validates apprehensions that President
Buhari, who is still borrowing more money, is completely disconnected
from his economic team, while the corrupt cabal in his Presidency has
taken advantage of the situation to pillage the vaults.
It is distressing that despite the already terrifying situation, and
with the further depreciation of our naira to N570 to a dollar,
President Buhari is moving to take a fresh N2.66 trillion ($4 billion
and €710 million) external loan, for very opaque purposes.
More frightening is the revelation by EAC that the nation’s debt stock
might soon hit N45 trillion.
This is especially as rather than developing strategies to create wealth
to run its affairs and repay the loans it collected, the incompetent,
lethargic and corrupt Buhari administration is only resorting to more
loans in a reckless fashion.
Moreover, the fact that the APC and its government cannot point to any
legacy project financed with the loans validates apprehensions in the
public space that the funds are being frittered by APC leaders and cabal
in the corridors of power.
This position is corroborated by Dr. Salami’s report that Federal
Government expenditure had been “on the increase and at a faster pace”
even when there are no projects on ground to justify such astronomical
increase.
Moreover, the corruption and incompetence, in addition to policy
inconsistency, insecurity and macroeconomic instability, under the
Buhari-led APC administration, as also observed by the EAC, had stifled
investments and crippled our national economy.
While commending the EAC for their courage in further exposing the
failures of the Buhari administration, the PDP urges the council to
impress it on President Buhari to take urgent steps to recover the over
N25 trillion naira reportedly stolen by APC leaders in various
government agencies.
The EAC should task President Buhari to recover the stolen N9.3 trillion
as detailed in the reported NNPC memo, the N2 trillion allegedly
siphoned under fraudulent subsidy regime and the N1.1 worth of crude oil
reportedly stolen using 18 unregistered vessels.
This is in addition to N500 billon reportedly stolen from Social
Investment Programme fund, the N1.5 trillion and $9.5 million from the
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the $65
million (N31 billion) frittered from the Federal Mortgage Bank of
Nigeria (FMBN), N165 billion stolen from the Nigeria Ports Authority
(NPA) as well as the N90 billion looted from the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS).
President Buhari should recover the funds stolen from National Health
Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as well as the National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA), in which a very top official of his government was
indicted.
The Dr. Salami EAC team must also summon the courage to tell President
Buhari that culprits of corruption in his administration should not only
be “eased out,” but made to cough out every kobo stolen and handed over
to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution.
