In all of 16 years, PDP borrowed N16 Trillion Now president Buhari wants to in one fell swoop, borrow N11 Trillion - Gboyega Adejumo Wrote...

In all of 16 years, PDP borrowed N16 Trillion! Now president Buhari wants to in one fell swoop, borrow N11 Trillion!

I remember during electioneering, Prof Yemi Osibajo and others specifically harped on the N16 Trillion debt profile as humongous, promising to make theirs a debt free State!

Again I wonder how Nigerians bought into this change mantra :-

Was it not the same APC in Osun under Aregbesola that generated a debt profile of N300 billion in just 5 years!?

Was it not the APC of Fashola that generated a debt profile of N419 billion in 8 years!?

When Fayose left Ekiti in his first incarnation, he left a surplus of over N10 billion in the treasury!  When Segun Oni left Ekiti as governor, there was a surplus of N8 billion...

When Fayemi left Ekiti, he left a debt of N105 billion for the incoming governor.

Such is their Regular Trademark - Spreading Poverty, Debt, Sorrow, Tears and Blood, Everywhere they go!

Before, the National Assembly agrees to Buhari's call to borrow N11 Trillion, the following must be sought from the Executive and properly negotiated with checks and balances on how to make sure the funds are judiciously spent:

1, No portion of this money is to be spent on a fatuous project like fighting in the Niger Delta region or another action that can precipitate a Biafran war!

2, No part of this money should go into an Islamic coalition to fight a dubious Shia/Sunni 1400 years old, Arab conflict!

3, There must be Due PROCESS, in the handling of procurement exercises, preferably using the safely international models of ICB, International Competitive Bidding, in all aspects of procurement with the Multilateral agencies of the The World Bank, IFAD, IBRD to oversee the procurement processes...

4, The National Assembly to carry out their Oversight Functions to the fullest, by conducting a THOROUGH DUE DILIGENCE report on all the areas into which these funds are to be addressed!

An independent examination of this administration's past spendings on oil exploration in the north, grasses from Brazil, spendings on IDP's and a very empirical plan to cut executive wastages, should among others be in this report!

Also, a list of government investment, source of funds and national net worth of all our investments should be sought, so as to know, what we are pouring into these areas and what we shall be getting back, by way of Returns On Investments!

We need the Due Diligence report to validate whether the said injection of N11 Trillion will generate the Wealth, Growth and Development we all are to envisage from such a huge Borrowing...

And finally, the National Assembly should establish the True and Lawful statuses of the proposed borrowing, viz -

* Who is/are the Lender{s}!?
* Which sectors of the economy are the beneficiaries!??
* What are the terms of Borrowing!?

~ Tenure of payback.
~ Repayment terms
~ Interest rate on borrowed funds
~ Default terms and legal implications of default!

And it is only after all of these have been done that that the National Assembly can or should go ahead to respond favorably to the President's call.

Please Note!
An embarrassing situation occurred a week ago when the officer in charge of our debt portfolio could not on international media of which CNN was part of, state how much exactly was our Debt profile as a Nation!

This Embarrassment surely do not portray us well as a nation, considering the fact that, it was a CNN correspondent that asked this very simple and basic question!
To know the exact amount of the National Debt is the very beginning of a Due Diligence process.