A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari, to rename the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to “Federal Ministry for Foreign Loans and Debts Accumulation.”
This is contained in a statement titled, “Rename Finance Minister To Minister Of Foreign Loans Collection”, jointly signed by its National coordinator and media director, Emmanuel Onwubiko and Zainab Yusuf on Friday.
The group’s call is in reaction to Senate’s recent approval of the President’s request for the upper chamber, to borrow N2,343,387,942,848, to part-finance the 2021 federal budget size of N13 trillion.
“We honestly think that the President should table before his weak Federal Executive Council the proposal for a change of name of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to the Federal Ministry for Foreign Loans and Debts Accumulation.
“This is because Nigerians have come to see that the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed does nothing else than inundating Nigerians with the bad news of the constant requests from all kinds of places around the world for external Loans which are actually not been utilised to grow the economy or advance the living conditions of Nigerians but these huge loans are used to service the ballooning costs of running government and paying juicy allowances to federal government officials,” HURIWA stated.
The group chided the leadership of the National Assembly, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila for endorsing the foreign loan requests.
HURIWA observed that while most nations were focusing their economic and national planning efforts towards boosting the productivity of their citizens through industrialisation and maintenance of public works and social infrastructures, “the federal and state governments in Nigeria are in the bonanza of collecting foreign credit facilities and loans so as to finance the ostentatious political lifestyles of the politicians in the corridors of power.
“This to is is the new kind of enslavement which must be resisted. Whereas these government officials collect loans and fritter to find their expensive lifestyles, millions of Nigerians have become impoverished over time.
“Infact only two years back, Nigeria became the home to over 90 million absolutely poor citizens and the poverty capital of the World even whilst the nation is still very rich in terms of mineral and crude oil resources whose revenues are looted heartlessly by officials,” the statement added.
