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| Ayo Fayose |
EKITI State governor, Ayodele Fayose on Tuesday sent a letter to
the China President, Xi Jinping seeking to stop the recent $6bn Loan Deal
signed between China and Nigeria on infrastructural development.
In the letter, the governor claimed he was concerned over the
debt burden on the country stating that it is already being serviced with 25
per cent of the federal government annual budget.
However, in a democracy particularly the federal system of
government, there are three tiers of government; federal, state and the local
governments. Each has stipulated terms of reference and is independent albeit to
an extent. Apart from this, the activities of the Presidency are regulated and
supervised by the Senate and House of the Representatives while the state
government is provided with the House of Assembly in view of the same manner.
Fundamentally, the system has already provided a template for
checks and balances with clear separation of powers. By the template, if the
President deviates from the outlined projects presented to the National
Assembly, responsibly, the senators and members of the House of Representatives
are invested with the duty to call the President to order.
Interestingly, the governor’s political party has a good number
of lawmakers in the National Assembly through which he could pass the message
on the chambers of the National Assembly. Unfortunately, the governor
ignorantly wrote to the Chinese government to ridicule the nation as a third
world country. The governor act of taking political propaganda outside the
shores of the country is an aberration, and indicative of mediocrity and superciliousness,
and therefore should be called to order. Opposition must be unmistakably
separated from cantankerousness. No one irrespective of position occupied
should ridicule the image of the country furthermore.
According to Fayose, the projects for which the loan was being
sought for were not captured in the 2016 budget and sanctimoniously sought for
the Chinese government to rescind the loan deal citing public interest as
reasons.
“I write as one of the major stakeholders in the project
Nigeria, and a governor of onen of the federating units making up Nigeria, to
draw your attention to report that the federal government of Nigeria is on the
verge of obtaining a $2bn loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.
“This $2bn is part of N1.84tn the federal government has
proposed to borrow to finance the 2016 budget, which is yet to be signed by the
President, Mohammadu Buhari, owing to unending controversies between the
Executive and the Legislative arms of government.
“According to reports, Nigeria desires to raise about $5bn
abroad to cover part of its 2016 budget deficit. This is projected to hit N3tn
($15bn) due to heavy infrastructure spending at a time when the slump in global
oil prices has slashed the country’s export revenues.
“While conceding that all nations, especially developing ones,
need support to be able to grow because no nation is an island, I am
constrained to inform you that if the future of Nigeria must be protected, the
country does not need any loan at this time.
“The government of China should be mindful of the fact that
Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations, are
totally opposed to increment of the country’s debt burden, which is already
being serviced with 25 per cent of the Federal Government annual budget”, he
said.
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