Massive Corruption Behind $1 Loan

THE All Progressives Congress (APC), on Sunday, cautioned against issuing President Goodluck a carte blanche on the funding of the battle against insurgency in the country, saying he could use such financial empowerment to further cripple the nation’s democracy.
The party was reacting to the president’s request to the National Assembly for $1 billion loan to fight the Boko Haram insurgency.

It requested the National Assembly to properly scrutinise the request, saying the administration had no business borrowing money if it had accounted for $20 billion in oil funds or plugged the alleged 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 alleged missing oil fund was only between $10 and $12 billion as admitted by the Federal Government, the amount represented more than 10 times the fund which the FG was now seeking to borrow under conditions yet unknown.
It described as disingenuous and sheer blackmail, the argument that the money was for national security or that it would facilitate the release of the over 200 schoolgirls 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 schoolgirls have remained in captivity is the sheer cluelessness and incompetence on the part of the Jonathan-led administration, which waited for 19 days before even admitting that the girls were kidnapped in the first instance,” the statement read.
It asked the National Assembly to put national interest above all other considerations, by taking a dispassionate, non-partisan look at the 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.
“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 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 administration that chided Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, when he alerted Nigerians to the need to adequately equip and motivate military men, had now turned around to admit that the military needed modern hardware to fight the insurgency.
The party said it aligned with those who had 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.
“This year alone, 20 per cent of the total national budget of N4.962 trillion, about N968.127 billion, 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?
“Approving the $1 billion 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.
Source: Tribune