By Chimezie Godfrey
The OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative in collaboration with the Growth Initiatives for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) Project, has urged the National Assembly (NASS) to ensure that monies borrowed are utilized for the purposes they are meant for, and benefit of all Nigerians.
The Executive Director, Oke Epia who made the demand during a Media-Civil Society Roundtable held Monday in Abuja, also called for the amendment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act to empower it to regulate Nigeria’s public finance management, especially Nigeria’s borrowings.
He decried the spate of borrowing and raised alarm that 93% of the country’s earnings goes for the servicing of these debts, stressing that if this is not controlled the future of the country will be jeopardized.
He said,”It is unhealthy for us to keep borrowing and using 93% of our earnings to service these debts. The National Assembly has the power of approval of these borrowings hence they equally have the power to stop these borrowings. The 10th NASS has the responsibility to ensure that these borrowings are utilized for the very purpose of which they are meant for, which is for the benefit of the citizens.”
Epia urged citizens to hold leaders accountable using the instrumentality of their voice, and pen particularly media practitioners. “It now behoves on us as citizens to hold them accountable, how do we do this, we have our voices, we have our pen as media practitioners.
“We should be able to use the power of our voice and pen to sustain the advocacy for financial prudence and accountability in our public finance management,”he stressed.
Bassey Bassey, the Executive Director, HipCity Innovation Centre, noted that fiscal responsibility and debt management is a huge problem in Nigeria, “our public finance management should be transparent and for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians”.
Bassey stressed the need for stakeholders to also interrogate the debt crises at the sub-nationals, adding that what administrators at state levels do is to borrow money and lavish it.
“Debt crises at the sub-national levels, we often beam our searchlight at the national forgetting what goes on at the sub-nationals. Most of our states in the country are not performing, what the administrators of most of these states do is to borrow money and lavished it.
The issue of what is happening at the state should concern us more than what is happening at the national level, because all of us are from the states.
In terms of collaboration among stakeholders he harped on the need for information sharing, stressing that it is very imperative for “us to begin to hold the government accountable”.
The Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) Barr. Victor Muruako represented by the Head, Directorate of Legal, Investigation & Enforcement, FRC, Charles Abana lamented the fiscal irresponsibility of office holders in terms of the country’s public finance management.
Abana stressed the need for the FRC to be empowered to regulate the country’s public finance space, especially the issue of government borrowings and transparency in the use of the funds.
In the light of the foregoing, he made strategic recommendations which said are necessary to rescue the country out of the heavy debt burden and usher in economic prosperity at the long-run.
He said,”It is recommended that there should be a reduction of overhead capital and the cost of governance, so as to make more resources available for developmental capital. Each of the capital expenditure should have proper cost benefit analysis open to the public.
“More public assets be slated for privatization so as to increase resources expected from the privatization exercise, while reducing new sovereign borrowing. The comatose public refineries are candidates for privatization. Furthermore, more public infrastructure projects should be considered under the public private partnership model so as so to reduce the pressure for public funding through debt.
“There should be a moratorium on new debts, especially foreign debts, except there are exceptional circumstances justifying the new debt, and this should be in accordance with the provision of the FRA, 2007.”
