The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the National Assembly to
properly scrutinize the puzzling request by President Goodluck
Jonathan for a 1-billion-dollar loan to fight the insurgent group Boko
Haram, saying the Administration has no business borrowing money if it
had accounted for US$20 billion in oil funds or plugged the 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 missing oil
fund is only between 10 and 12 billion dollars as admitted by the FG,
the amount represents more than 10 times the fund which the FG is now
seeking to borrow under conditions that are yet unknown.
It described as disingenuous and sheer blackmail the argument that the
money is for national security or that it would facilitate the release
of the over 200 school girls who were 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 school girls have remained
in captivity is the sheer cluelessness and incompetence on the part of
the Jonathan Administration, which waited for all of 19 days before
even admitting that the girls were kidnapped in the first instance.
”Therefore, putting more money in the hands of an incompetent and
massively corrupt Administration can only encourage more incompetence
and corruption. That is why we are asking the National Assembly to put
national interest above all other considerations by taking a
dispassionate, non-partisan look at the President’s 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.
”They must also inquire from the Administration why it should be
borrowing 1 billion dollars when it has yet to account for the missing
20-billion-dollar oil money, plug the daily stealing of 300,000 bpd
and unravel the massive frauds that have hallmarked the tenure of this
Administration (pension fraud, oil subsidy scam, Malabu fraud etc). 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 Nigerian 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 Jonathan Administration that roundly pilloried
Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno State, when he alerted Nigerians to the
need to adequately equip and motivate our men and women in uniform,
has now turned around to admit that the military needs modern hardware
to fight the insurgency.
The party said it aligns with those who have 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, as well as its sheer cluelessness and palpable
”This year alone, 20 per cent of the total national budget of 4.962
trillion Naira, which is about 968.127 billion naira, 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?.
”With the Jonathan Administration allegedly spending or setting aside
an average of 2 billion Naira to impeach each Governor of APC states,
and the PDP-led Administration using the common wealth to bribe voters
in a desperate bid to win elections at all costs, approving the
1-billion-dollar 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
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
