Kudos, knocks for FG’s plan to borrow N178bn from ADB

Some Nigerians have expressed divergent views on the plan by the Federal Government to borrow $1.15bn (N178bn) from the African Development Bank for the power sector reforms in 2013.

In separate interviews with Saturday PUNCH, they reacted to the borrowing plan announced by the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Monday at a news briefing.

A section of the respondents said borrowing at this time in the history of the country was unnecessary and a plot to throw the future generation in another debt quagmire.

The other group, however, said that there was nothing wrong with borrowing provided the money was productively spent, such that the loan would eventually repay itself.

Meanwhile, the two groups seemed to have a consensus on the attitude of the government to borrowing, especially on the issue of corruption.

The Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Credit Administrators, Dr. Chris Onalo, said that rather than go borrowing, the FG should use looted funds that have been recovered over the years to facilitate public interest projects such as power.

“I think borrowing is very unnecessary; what has the government done with the money recovered from so many cases of looting in the past? We hear nothing about them.

“We must be wary of borrowing as a nation and the government must take deliberate steps to stamp out corruption because that is the greatest problem against good governance,” he said.

In a sharp contrast, a doyen of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Samuel Olayemi, said the government had done nothing wrong with its intention to borrow from the ADB.

He said the important thing was for the government to have viable projects to invest the money into and rationally too.

But he cautioned against borrowing for personal gains at the expense of the citizens.

“Apart from having a viable project and properly utilising the money, the FG must ensure that the loan is used in a way that it can repay itself. There must also be an effective monitoring of repayment such that not even a change in government would affect the schedule,” he said.

Two lawyers and social commentators, Wahab Shittu and Kayode Fadipe, towed the line of Onalo as they insisted that Nigeria should not borrow because the act could return it to the fold of debtor nations.

They stated that this would rubbish the debt forgiveness feat recorded during the tenure of a former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

They called on President Goodluck Jonathan to block all loopholes through which the nation’s wealth is being siphoned by a few Nigerians and deliver the dividends of democracy to the electorate.

The loan, among other things, is to be used to finance gas supply and another $150m will be secured for the liberalisation of the sector.