SENATE REJECTS PRESIDENT’S BORROWING REQUEST

In tune with the feelings of majority of Nigerians, the Senate on Tuesday rejected the request by President Muhammadu Buhari for approval to borrow $29.9bn from international lenders.
In rejecting the request, the Senate pointed out two errors that were reflected in the document received.
In the first place, the Senate observed that contrary to the claims in the first paragraph of the President’s letter to the Senate, that an attachment of the draft of the borrowing plan was available, they could not find any attachment of the draft of the borrowing plan.

Secondly, in the last paragraph of the same letter, the President wants the Senate to approve the borrowing plan pending when the details of the plan would be ready, a decision frowned at by the lawmakers, wondering why they will be attending to a non-existent borrowing plan in the first place.

Have we forgotten so soon, how much debt the military plunged Nigeria into before Obasanjo took over in 1999? According to reports,  Obasanjo  inherited about $30 billion external debt and did not  meet a single kobo in the treasury while oil price was as low as $11 per barrel. But he managed to forge ahead, tried to pay off some and negotiated with Paris Club for debt forgiveness leading to about $18 billion being written off for Nigeria to become debt free. Now, someone wants to take as much as the same $30 billion in one swoop without explanation as to how it would be repaid. Nigerians owe the Senate a debt of gratitude for rejecting approval for the vague loan.

I submit that it is wrong for the President to just send a letter for loan approval without taking his case to the country and selling it to the people. His economic team should have been out there with policy speeches and position papers articulating why we must borrow such an unprecedented amount of money at this time.
Our President must appreciate the fact that modern day governing requires ability to sell his programs to the public and that part of the job of his job is to be the chief sales man for the administration. He should have spent some time outside Aso Rock, to sell his borrowing plan and how he intends to repay the loan. I expect to read policy speeches on how they intend to get us out of our present economic problem. Once the public buy in, the national assembly will face pressure to approve. The reliance on “body language” has failed this time around.