The party says the Jonathan administration is corrupt,
inept and has no need for $1 billion loan.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has asked the National
Assembly to properly scrutinize the puzzling request by President Goodluck
Jonathan for a 1 billion dollar loan to fight the insurgent group Boko Haram,
saying the administration has no business borrowing money if it had accounted
for US$20 billion in oil funds or plugged the official stealing of 300,000
barrels of oil per day.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National
Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said even if the missing oil fund
is only between 10 and 12 billion dollars as admitted by the FG, the amount
represents more than 10 times the fund which the FG is now seeking to borrow
under conditions that are yet unknown.
It described as disingenuous and sheer blackmail the
argument that the money is for national security or that it would facilitate
the release of the over 200 school girls who were abducted about 100 days ago.
“That argument is hollow. In the first instance, trillions
of Naira have been allocated yearly – in the past few years – for security and
defence, yet the fight against the insurgents rages on with deadly
consequences. Secondly, the only reason the school girls have remained in
captivity is the sheer cluelessness and incompetence on the part of the
Jonathan Administration, which waited for all of 19 days before even admitting
that the girls were kidnapped in the first instance.
”Therefore, putting more money in the hands of an
incompetent and massively corrupt administration can only encourage more
incompetence and corruption. That is why we are asking the National Assembly to
put national interest above all other considerations by taking a dispassionate,
non-partisan look at the President’s request.
”What we are saying in essence is that the National Assembly
must summon security and military chiefs to explain how the huge funds
allocated to security sector in the past has been spent, before more funds can
be pumped into the sector. They must be asked what happened to the military
equipment said to have been procured in recent years.
”They must also inquire from the administration why it
should be borrowing 1 billion dollars when it has yet to account for the
missing 20 billion dollar oil money, plug the daily stealing of 300,000 bpd and
unravel the massive frauds that have hallmarked the tenure of this
administration (pension fraud, oil subsidy scam, Malabu fraud etc). If after
all the scrutiny, the National Assembly still feels it must approve the loan,
so be it, but it (National Assembly) must know that its own integrity and
credibility are on the line,” APC said.
The party also reminded Nigerians that the Nigerian civil
war, which lasted three years, was prosecuted by the government without
resorting to any external borrowing, due to competent and transparent
management of the nation’s economy.
”On the contrary, trillions of Naira have been pumped into
the Boko Haram war in the past five years, and Nigerians still do not have any
indication of how soon the insurgency will end or what happened to the huge
allocated funds. Instead, what the tax payers are being asked to do is to shell
out more funds to finance the incompetence and corruption of a reckless
administration, whose officials fly around the world in jets that burn billions
of Naira but cannot allow them to be probed by the National Assembly,” it said.
APC wondered why the Jonathan Administration that roundly
pilloried Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno State, when he alerted Nigerians to the
need to adequately equip and motivate our men and women in uniform, has now
turned around to admit that the military needs modern hardware to fight the
insurgency.
The party said it aligns with those who have cautioned
against the National Assembly giving a blank cheque to the administration, due
to its inability to account for the past budgetary allocations for the security
and defence, as well as its sheer cluelessness and palpable incompetence.
”This year alone, 20 per cent of the total national budget
of 4.962 trillion Naira, which is about 968.127 billion naira, was allocated to
Defence. How much of that money has been released so far and how has the funds
been spent? What about the equally huge allocations in the previous years?
”With the Jonathan Administration allegedly spending or
setting aside an average of 2 billion Naira to impeach each Governor of APC
states, and the PDP-led Administration using the common wealth to bribe voters
in a desperate bid to win elections at all costs, approving the 1billion dollar
loan may amount to giving more ammunition to the Administration to stifle the
nation’s democracy or even threaten the very existence of the country,” it
said.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Lagos, July 20th 2014
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