Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Thursday unveiled plans to investigate the controversies trailing the actual external debt profile of Nigeria.

The lawmakers made the resolution while adopting a motion introduced by Tajudeen Yusuf (PDP-Kogi), expressed displeasure over the controversies trailing the true state of Nigeria’s debt, leading to varying figures given by the federal government and some fiscal policy monitoring organisations.

In his lead debate, Yusuf, chairman of the House committee on capital market and other Institutions, quoted Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is the chairman of Nigerian Economic Council as saying that the nation’s debt profile stood at $10 billion in the last three years while the figures given by economic and budget experts range between $13 billion to $47 billion from May 2015 to June 2018.

According to him, “Nigeria’s external and domestic debt, which reveals that the external debt grew to $17.8 billion in June 2018 from $10.49 billion in 2015, while domestic debt, which was N8.39 billion in June 2015 has risen to N12.15 trillion as at June 2018, representing an increase of N17.6 trillion in three years.”

The lawmaker expressed concern that besides the rising national debt profile, “there is a sharp increase in sub-national borrowing in the last three years, such that the domestic debts of states governments rose from N1.69 trillion in June 2015 to N3.4 trillion in June 2018.”
He further lamented that unlike global practices where borrowings are tied to specific projects mutually agreed by respective organs of government, various borrowings by the federal government since June 2015, have not been transparent, “a situation, which gives room for doubts, misconceptions and prone to manipulations.”

The Kogi lawmaker argued that Nigeria’s debt profile has led to “growing economic instability, stifled growth and stunted development, as well as impacted negatively on various sectors of the economy.”

Yusuf also expressed concern that aside the rising national debt profile, there is a “sharp increase” in sub-national borrowing in the last three years.

They added that the positive impact of Nigeria’s borrowings since 2015 is “yet to be seen” and that “unlike global practices where borrowings are tied to specific projects mutually agreed by respective organs of government, various borrowings since 2015, have not been transparent.”

“Nigeria’s revenues are sharply declining, which makes it increasingly difficult to attract and sustain higher debts, ultimately portending micro and macro dangers to the national economy amidst numerous developmental challenges,” Yusuf said.

While ruling, Speaker Yakubu Dogara mandated the joint committees on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, capital market and institutions as well as Banking and Currency to investigate the motion and report back within four weeks.

•Sourced from a BusinessDay report

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