•Don’t borrow to fund budget, recover looted funds, he urges Buhari
By Clifford Ndujihe
FORMER Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, in this interview speaks on his expectations of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the 2016 Federal Budget and why President Buhari should recover looted funds instead of borrowing to fund the budget.
His take on Buhari’s N6.08 trillion budget and whether it is going to boost the economy
With regards to the N6 trillion budget, we are yet to be told the basis. From the way it sounds, we are going to borrow that money. My worry therefore is how does that take us? Once you borrow you are now at the mercy of your lender. It was what almost finished the American economy when they were borrowing to eat their breakfast from China. China got to the extent that you go into the White House, inscriptions and directions were written in Chineese. But that is a country with all the systems in place.
In our own case, I don’t see how they want to rouse the economy with a polity where we now have oil at $20 per barrel, where irresponsibly, not this government and not even the Jonathan government, successive governments left all our other sources of generating revenue for oil alone.
A nation that is highy endowed with rubber, palm oil, gold, diamond, fish, etc, with all these gifts of God, we toyed with them, we refused to nurture and develop them and today we are crying over the issue of oil.
This ought not to be. Today, oil would have been one of the components. Rather than spend more money (N32 billion) looking for oil (in Lake Chad basin) that we don’t have and that would not be of much use to us anymore, what are we doing as a nation to urgently go back to the drawing board and articulate the way forward?
There are many nations without oil that are doing well through tourism. How much do we have to get from tourism? Have we been able to put our house in order for foreigners to see it as tourist destination to visit? With insecurity what are we doing? A lot more needs to be done.
If we borrow N2trillion in 2016 for a N6trillion budget, in 2017, we will borrow N8 trillion of a N12 trillion budget and in 2018, we will borrowN15 trillion of a N20 trillion budget. We are heading for a doom. I pray and will like to see a reverse of the situation. I will expect that economists should be consulted.
The solution, in my opinion, is not borrowing. First and foremost where is all our moneys? We have moneys. No credible and strong international body will lend us money because they are lent our own money back to us but the money was stolen. So, why not first, reach an understanding where we say: in the last 16 years how much have we received as a country? How much went to Kano, where is the money?
How much went to Delta, where is the money? How much went to Lagos, where is the money? How much went to Akwa Ibom, where is the money? How much went to Sokoto, where is the money?
It is easy to find out where these moneys are and reach a judicial decision that these are moneys belonging to Nigeria but are now in the pockets of private individuals that all these moneys be brought back first. Thereafter, we take a decision on whether it is necessary to borrow.
Have the members of the National Assembly consulted the people, who elected them on whether or not we want to borrow? Who bought NEPA for instance and all its associated properties and how much did they pay? Most of those who claim to have bought NEPA have injected no penny into it. Where did they warehouse the money with which they bought it? So, Buhari has a lot in his pie to save this country by just agreeing that a man that God has given health at that age and time has no other duty or obligation than to get it right.
NEPA is just one. You privatised all the banks. Who made them to be failed banks? Buhari is almost one year on the job. If we are just going to glide through as a way of life we may just as well forget Nigeria as a nation because there is a lot to be done. The N2 trillion he wants to borrow, I can say we have much more money than that. Where is the money we have recovered so far and from who? There should be no secrecy. List for Nigerians how much we have recovered and from who. What use economically are we putting this money into? We must be careful, Nigeria of 30 to 40 years ago is not the same as Nigeria of today.
It is too soon for a government that is largely not on its feet, that is not cohesive to think of plunging the country into that indebtedness when in fact we have over N20 trillion, which I think given my expectation of the President, we should have recovered 60 per cent of the stolen wealth of this nation by now. So, we want to know what has been recovered to dispel the rumour that is making the rounds and which is weakening the strengthen, zest and the myth of the Buhari government.
What is the rumour making the rounds?
If you say you have recovered money from Mr A and we don’t know the amount and the person, we are going back to the same old system, which is not expected of a great Muslim leader like Buhari, a leader with so much age, a man who pledged the kernel of his administration on the destruction of corruption.
What do you expect from the government in 2016?
First and foremost, Buhari told us he knows people of integrity, conclusively bring them together and let Nigerians receive back the loot of this country. If we get 80 per cent of the loot we will get over N33 trillion and won’t need to borrow. Nigerians are getting worried as to the true meaning of change.
Much as I am held to have supported this government, we need to start putting human face when we call a spade a spade. There is so much secrecy in this government. A government that cannot explain itself to the electorate and the people that put it in power is in trouble. The mere fact that you are not talking is itself corruption. Let the people know what is happening before it is too late. It is urgent that we douse the secrecy by publishing the amount recovered and from whom.. There cannot be any sacred cow. Let us face governance and the rebirth of Nigeria.
No comments:
Post a Comment