Borrowing to fund corruption (I)

Jonathan said the foreign loan was needed to equip the military in order to tackle the ongoing security challenges in the country.Reactions in the media and among public commentators do not favour this questionable proposal by Jonathan to once again enslave the country and mortgage the future of its present and even unborn generations. The […]

Jonathan said the foreign loan was needed to equip the military in order to tackle the ongoing security challenges in the country.
Reactions in the media and among public commentators do not favour this questionable proposal by Jonathan to once again enslave the country and mortgage the future of its present and even unborn generations. The Senate, shortly after receiving Jonathan’s letter, proceeded on a two-month recess without considering the request. Reasons abound to justify the cold feet developed by the legislators whose reaction was truly a reflection of the bitterness of Nigerians against the proposed loan. The snubbing of the request by the Senate (by its refusal to list it on its order paper), which was though against its known convention where executive communications were usually given immediate attention, should have sent warning signals to Jonathan. The country’s lawmakers should, this time around, stand their feet and prove to Nigerians that the National Assembly is indeed not a ‘rubber stamp’.
Most of those who criticize the proposal by President Jonathan to take the $1 billion loan believe that substantial part if not the whole of it would, as usual, be stolen; or in the least misappropriated. This opinion sprouts from the brazen culture of corruption and impunity in the management of public funds and resources in Nigeria. This is coupled with government body-language that depicts an obvious unwillingness to tackle the deep-seated scourge called corruption, which in the past two and a half decades, has characterized our national life but sadly worsened under Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency. This unfortunate situation presupposes that Jonathan is only borrowing to fund and consolidate corruption in Nigeria. Besides, what assurances do Nigerians have that the loan, when taken, would not be used for paying estarcode to high ranking military authorities to attend tea conferences and seminars in creditors’ countries; leaving the soldiers who need training and re-training to wallow in perpetual dearth of basic combat equipment in addition to unpaid allowances?
Another reason more crucial perhaps than others, which dampen public confidence in the proposed loan, is the failure by Jonathan’s administration to justify the huge resources expended on security in recent years. The request for this loan, for instance, was coming barely less than four months after the National Assembly appropriated more than N1 trillion for security operations in the 2014 budget. Since 2011, the federal government has allocated not less than N1 trillion annually for the security sector; primarily to curb insurgency. Yet, with all these colossal resources appropriated in the name of security, lives of Nigerians have become more unsafe and their properties much unsecured.
With five successive years of large budgetary allocations to the country’s defense establishments, there is little to show for the not-so-common expenditure by government on one sector of the economy. This is why the call by Jonathan in his letter for the ‘urgent need to upgrade the equipment and logistics of our armed forces and security services to enable them more forcefully confront the serious threat’ failed to inspire many Nigerians to appreciate his appeal. More critical than these interrogations are other unanswered but fundamental questions that put public interest in the whole matter at great risk; creating fear rather than confidence in Nigerians. The proposal, for example, refused to mention the specific lending source, interest rate, tenure and other usual but enslaving strings attached to such loans.
No patriotic Nigerian with a good sense of history would subscribe to President Jonathan’s proposal for this foreign loan. Only in 2005 was Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo liberated from the Paris Club when it paid off $12 billion of its accumulated debt while $18 billion was written off. Just within ten years of this redemption from economic slavery, federal and states governments launched another jamboree of huge foreign borrowing; thus launching and increasing the nation’s foreign debt profile, once again, to $10.
In his usual desperate but clever effort at promoting, explaining and protecting every of Jonathan’s proposal or position on issues, the Coordinator of the National Information Center, Mr. Mike Omeri,  remarked that ‘the proposed $1 billion loan would not be handed down to the Nigerian government in cash’; arguing that it was an arrangement between governments. ‘It is not just to fight Boko Haram’, Omeri asserted; adding that ‘it is to support the armed forces in terms of equipment, surveillance, training, etc;’ The mere mention of ‘arrangement involving governments’ by Mike Omeri only confirms the concern expressed by those who cautioned Nigerian authorities over the extension of invitation to western powers to offer ‘assistance’ particularly in the rescue of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. The second part of this piece would attempt to educate readers including Oga Omeri on the import and inner dimensions of ‘arrangement involving goverments’
For anyone in today’s world where ‘the powerful is dominant’ to imagine that the interventions offered by America and other superpowers, whether in terms of intelligence or hardware were for free, is to live on a planet of denial. Underneath such solicited support from western nations always lies another ulterior motive which in this case is the sale of arms and ammunitions to boost the already strong economy of the super powers at the expense of our developing, or in a more ordinary expression, ‘struggling-to-survive’ economy. Should Nigeria go for this loan as proposed by its ever-clueless President, the country would have settled for an endless repayment of a foreign loan that shall continue to drain the nation’s resources, which by the wish of many Nigerians, could be used to tackle poverty and unemployment; two long standing and very threatening socio-economic challenges.
Having been deceived once by this same Jonathan’s administration in January 2012 over oil subsidy coupled with all its failed promises on power supply, poverty alleviation, job creation, etc; it is the popular wish of Nigerians to reject the attempt by government to secure this foreign loan. Even if the proposal for the $1 billion loan were at the instance of the creditor(s), Nigeria does not need this loan now. We don’t want it. The discourse continues next week insha Allah. May Allah (SWT) save Nigeria from the evil machinations of wicked leaders, amin.