Lagos — Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s external borrowing plan saying “If we borrow some $30bn, in less than three years, we would have mortgaged the future of Nigeria for well over thirty years to come.”
Obasanjo spoke yesterday at the first Akintola Williams Annual Lecture in Lagos where he also took a swipe at the Nigerian military, the judiciary and the National Assembly. This is the first time Obasanjo is openly criticizing President Buhari who took office one and a half years ago.
“We immediately need loans to stabilize our foreign reserve and embark on some infrastructure development but surely not $30 billion over a period of less than three years,” Obasanjo said in his lecture titled “Nigeria yesterday, today and tomorrow: Governance and accountability.
“That [$30bn] was about the magnitude of cumulative debt of Nigeria which we worked and wiped out ten years ago. Before that debt relief, we were spending almost $3 billion to service our debt annually and the quantum of the debt was not going down. Rather, if we defaulted, we paid penalty which was added on,” he added.
He said the projects listed for borrowing are necessary in the medium and long run for the nation’s economy but the government has to prioritize. Citing the railway and the Mambilla hydro projects as examples, Obasanjo said they are necessary but cannot pay themselves.
“The argument of concessional, mixed with commercial, does not hold water. When the concessional and the non-concessional borrowings are put together, interests alone will be in the region of 3% to 4%. The bunching of debt service will be a problem to confront other administrations in future,” the former president said, adding, “telling us that those projects will pay themselves cannot be the whole truth.”
“We must not be unmindful of internal borrowing either. It impacts somewhat differently on the economy but it must not be allowed to crowd out the ability of the private sector to borrow to grow the real economy which is to lead us out of the recession,” he said.
40 judges may have cases to answer
On the arrest of judges by agents of the Department of State Services (DSS) over allegations of corruption, Obasanjo said from what he has gathered there may be not less than two scores of judicial officers that may have questions to answer.
“While one would not feel unconcerned for the method used, one should also ask if there was an alternative. The National Judicial Council, NJC, would not do anything as it was all in-breeding,” he said, adding that “In the absence of that alternative, we must all thank God for giving the President the wisdom, courage and audacity for giving the security agencies the leeway to act.”
While lamenting that the president cannot influence or make any appointment to the Judiciary at the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court level, Obasanjo urged the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) to clean up its own house and help with the cleaning of the Judiciary. He said “there is virtually no corrupt Judge without being aided by a member of the bar.”
He said the reform being canvassed by some members of the NBA must be deep, comprehensive and entail constitutional amendments, especially with regards to appointment and disciplines of judges.
He said: “Corruption is Corruption and it cannot be explained as the proceeds of sale of rice and gari by a judge nor can millions of dollars be explained as medical fee or gift without identified sources by a public officer or spouse of such a pubic officer.”
National Assembly worse than judiciary
Obasanjo also for the umpteenth time, lambasted the National Assembly saying it stinks much worse than the judiciary, describing it as “a den of corruption by a gang of unarmed robbers.”
“The National Assembly cabal of today is worse than any cabal that anybody may find anywhere in our national governance system at any time. Members of the National Assembly pay themselves allowances for staff and offices they do not have or maintain,” he said.
The former president said like the Judiciary, the National Assembly cannot clean itself. “The President should ride on the crest of the popularity of what is happening in the Judiciary to set up a highly technical team of incorruptible investigators to look into the so-called constituency projects of the past and the present and bring culprits to book. “The President has overall responsibility and accountability for any fund appropriated under his watch. There would be many of such projects and the National Assembly would try to frustrate such necessary investigation. But the project sites are known and magnitude of funds voted for them are known. The investigation will reveal the true situation. Nigerians will be shocked with what such enquiries would unearth,” he said.
Obasanjo also said with appropriate measures, the budget of the National Assembly can be brought down to less than 50% of what it is today.
Streamline military procurement
The former leader also took on the military, saying “How I wish that the military has not descended into what it has descended to in the last seven or eight years!”
He said when the military is corrupt, it affects its fighting ability in many ways. “Poor, used and inappropriate equipment and materials are purchased by the military for the military at the expense of the lives of fighting troops in the warfront. In some cases, nothing at all is purchased.”
“It is more damnable for nothing to be bought and yet the money disappeared into their private personal pockets. I can only say to these officers that I am not proud of them, rather I am ashamed of them. Whether they are alive or dead, their family members should also be ashamed of them,” he added.
Obasanjo also said: “The military is not a buyer of its own weapons, equipment, ammunition and materials. It is only a recommender and a tester of the weapons and equipment that could perform the role and function assigned to it. The procurement is normally by a Committee which includes defence, finance, legislature, foreign affairs and the military only as observer or adviser to ensure quality and standard.”
Stop giving excuses
He said the government should stop giving excuses. “Now that we have had change because the actors and the situation needed to be changed, let us move forward to have progress through a comprehensive economic policy and program that is intellectually, strategically and philosophically based,” he said.
He said the government at the centre has not been able to present to the nation the true position of the nation’s economy and finances, adding that “it will help people to understand exactly the position of government with true economic and financial situation, and what more pains and sacrifices we have to take and make to get us out of recession.”
Obasanjo also frowned at the blanket castigation of all democratic administrations from 1999 by the present administration, describing it as uncharitable, fussy and un-instructive. “Politics apart, I strongly believe that there is a distinction between the three previous administrations that it would be unfair to lump them all together. I understand President Buhari’s frustration on the state of the economy inherited by him. It was the same reason and situation that brought about cry for change, otherwise there would be no need for change if it was all nice and rosy.”
By Sunday Michael Ogwu I Daily Trust
