Following Federal Government’s continuous borrowing to fund critical projects, an economic analyst and legal practitioner, Omoruyi Edoigiawerie, yesterday, said there was need to review past loans to determine if they were deployed for the purpose they were obtained.
The Senate had, on June 1, 2021 approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s loan request of $5.513 billion, less than a week after receiving a letter from the President.
Earlier in April, the Senate also approved President Buhari $2.7 billion loan request from external sources to fund critical projects across the country. The President had also last year asked lawmakers for permission to obtain $5.5 billion external funding to finance budget deficits.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) had put Nigeria’s total public debt as of December 31, 2020 at N32.915 trillion, representing a 20.13 pre cent increase over the N27.40 trillion recorded in December 2019.
But Edoigiawerie argued that going by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan’s comment that Nigeria was no longer a rich country, there was need to ensure accountability of the loans.
