External Borrowings: Senators’ Hypocritical Question
Just a few days after the senate and the house of representatives approved a $2.2 billion loan request from President Bola Tinubu, chairmen of the senate and house of reps’ committees on finance, Sani Musa and James Faleke respectively, were asking the federal government’s economic team why Nigeria was still borrowing when revenue agencies had surpassed targets.
That is a question they should have asked Tinubu before approving a $2.2 billion loan barely one month to the end of 2024 budget year!
But question was raised during an interactive session between the government’s revenue agencies and the National Assembly Joint Committees on Finance, Budget, and National Planning, focusing on the 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
All the heads of the revenue-generating agencies had reported surpluses for the 2024 fiscal year, with the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari and the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adeniyi, providing key updates on their performance and projections.
Kyari briefed the session on crude oil production targets for royalties and taxes, noting that daily oil production currently stood at 1.8 million barrels, nearing the 2.06 million barrels per day projected for 2024. Kyari assured the committees that revenue targets would be exceeded by year-end and projected that the company would remit ₦23.7 trillion to the Federation Account in 2025.
For the NCS, Adeniyi revealed that by September 30, 2024, the service had generated N5.352 trillion, surpassing its 2024 target of N5.09 trillion, and projected revenues of N6.3 trillion for 2025.
By the time all the agencies finished giving their revenue performances for 2024 and projections for 2025, the lawmakers jaws dropped and looked like men who just dropped from the moon! It was Senator Adamu Aleiro who first asked the dumb quest: “Why is the government borrowing when we have so much money?”
Seriously? So, the senators don’t have any idea about how much Nigeria was raking in as revenue? Are there no committees oversighting these revenue generating agencies? Were these committees not set up to help lawmakers have that kind of information to guide them in checking the excesses of the executive? So, what exactly are the committees doing?
The lawmakers were not aware that all the revenue agencies of the federal government either met or exceeded their revenue targets for 2024! They were not aware that over ₦51 trillion has been generated by the agencies so far! Maybe it’s time to dissolve the senate.
Then Faleke made another his own hypocritical intervention, asking why the federal government would still go ahead to borrow when the IGR target has been surpassed! His counterpart in the senate, Musa, also asked similar questions. Are these lawmakers dumb or just being hypocritical?
Four days earlier, both chambers of the national assembly approved the loan request of $2.2billion, equivalent to N1.7 trillion using the exchange rate of N800 to a dollar. The lawmakers approved the loan after considering the reports of their committees on local and foreign debt.
Aliyu Wamakko, chairman of the senate committee on loans, had told his colleagues why justifying the approval that the money would be used to finance the N9.1 trillion deficit in the 2024 budget. So, were the senators not paying attention when Wamako told them there was deficit in the 2024 budget that the loan would be used to address?
Well, it was Zacch Adedeji, chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), who showed the lawmakers how moronic they are! Reacting to the question, he said, “Borrowing is part of what had been approved by the national assembly for the federal government, meaning that the executive borrows based on the approval of the legislature.
“The fact that we meet revenue targets and even surpassed them as revenue generating agencies does not mean that the borrowing component of the appropriation law passed by the national assembly should not be activated.”
This is exactly why many Nigerians don’t have respect for national assembly members. They like to eat their cakes and still have it. You cannot be wining and dining with the executive, approving everything from the presidency and MDAs without any deep oversight, and turning round to question your own approvals. Such stints as the lawmakers pulled last Monday are fruitless attempts at populism. Nigerians know when you truly fight for them and when you’re just playing to the gallery.
No one is saying that lawmakers should not ask questions. But when senior lawmakers are openly asking questions they ought to have answers to, make them sound and look absurd and comical. How do you make laws for good governance when you’re not doing any oversight of MDAs? Why are we paying having 109 senators, 360 house members to close their sight over government agencies?
When lawmakers visit MDAs on oversight duties, what exactly do they do? Ask critical questions or ask for welfare? It’s now obvious that they prioritise their own welfare over the welfare of the country. This is what I have heard from several heads of MDAs as a journalist.
I was part of a team of investigative journalists at the office of the head of a government agency some years ago when he was informed that House of Reps committee members oversighting his agency were around to see him. He acknowledged the notice and continued to talk to us. He kept them waiting for more than 20 minutes. When one of us reminded him that some honourables were waiting for him, he simply sneered and said, “Don’t mind them, I know why they’re here.”
I admit that not all the lawmakers are so base and unethical. There are a few who are deserving of our respect because of their high ethical values. During the period I covered the house of reps between 2009-20015, I met lawmakers who detested the roguish and unprincipled character of some of their colleagues. But it is sad, and a discredit to our leadership values, that the unscrupulous ones always seem to be in the majority.
Our lawmakers should make themselves relevant to our lives by ensuring proper oversight of the MDAs to make life better for us. Not pulling populist stunts at our expense. They should know Nigerians are watching them.
— Tajudeen Suleiman is an Abuja based journalist.
Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.
External Borrowings: Senators’ Hypocritical Question is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
