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**Senator Says Debts Okay For Development
Tayo Olanipekun, Washington DC
The government is willing to show to Nigerians what projects its various debts are tied to as details of these are not currently in the public domain, the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, has said.
She made this known on Thursday at a panel discussion during the World Bank/IMF ongoing Annual Meetings in Washington DC, prompting the World Bank President, David Malpass, to request additional explanations from Ahmed on the issue.
During the discussion titled Encoding Debts–Getting Transparency Right, the Minister said details of projects relating to debts the nation is owing major institutions, including the China Exim Bank, are not in the public domain, even as some civil society organisations and other individuals have requested for same.
“We want to be able to show what debts are relating to specific projects. We do not have detailed breakdown to show that these are the projects for project borrowing,” Ahmed said.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) put the nation’s total debts as of June 30, 2019 at N25.7 trillion, recording an increase in debt stock of N1.32 trillion from what it was in December 31, 2018.
This is as Senator Uba Sani, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other financial institutions, told journalists on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings that such borrowings are necessary for the country to achieve infrastructural development.
He said the Minister was correct in all she said about the nation’s debt profile as the nation “need to fund our infrastructure and the National Assembly will be vigorous in our oversight.”
Sanni, representing Kaduna Central, cited a recent report that 11 million Nigerian kids of school age are currently out of school as one of the reasons that funding of “critical areas” and increase of funding of education sector are important.
He also expressed optimism that the current administration will promote transparency and prevent diversion of funds.
“I have no doubt that the National Assembly is on the same page with the President and the Ministry of Finance. We need the money as we have over N2 trillion deficit in our budget and we have to borrow to specifically fund some areas,” said the Senator.
