*Will it be business as usual? – Senator
*The rot Tinubu govt inherited is beyond description – APC stalwart
*Let the President lead anti-corruption crusade – Falana
*Buhari govt borrowed to fund yearly budget – DMO
*We saw ugliest phase of corruption in Buhari’s administration,Kukah
By our special correspondent
While President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is struggling to win the heart of Nigerians by taking some measures that he believes could alleviate their sufferings, political party big wigs, anti-corruption groups and financial experts have continued to mount pressure on him to take the bull by the horns by probing organizations and arresting individuals accused of looting and mismanaging public funds.
They specifically called on the president to look into the allegations of corruption leveled against officials of the immediate past government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The groups and leaders of thought, many of who are big names in the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), reasoned that since the nation is obviously broke and needs funds to execute short and long term projects for the benefit of the masses, the Tinubu administration should look back at the books and records of the past eight years during which many accusing fingers pointed at several heads of government agencies for unaccountable spending and ask questions.
An APC stalwart from a state in the North-East who did not want his name in print is disturbed that “the Tinubu government inherited debt profile from the former President Mohammadu Buhari administration estimated at over N80 trillion without any concrete infrastructure on the ground to show for it.”
“When His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu came into power, we began to ask questions and our finding is too terrible for public consumption. The rot the present government inherited is beyond description.
“Where do you think the present administration will generate money to fund debts, government and economy before you talk of capital projects?
“Where will the federal government get the money to service and pay this gargantuan debt? And how long will it take to clear it?” he asked, adding that “one of the best ways to go about it is by using legal means to collect the money looted from the treasury”.
A ranking APC senator in the 10th National Assembly from a North-Central state who spoke with the Nigerian Pilot on condition of anonymity said that he felt sad that the 9th Senate under the leadership of Senator Ahmed Lawan senate presidency was too lame and docile to stop any loan request from the then president Buhari.
“It feels unfortunate that I was a member of the 9th Senate that approved the return of Nigeria to the days of generational slavery by reason of needless loans, Allah! We had a weak leadership that made the Senate a mere rubber stamp. Many of us in the current Senate are wondering whether it will be business as usual”.
“As a Senate, we failed the nation in many ways. I think we were not firm in our oversight functions of monitoring the executive arm of government. We had every opportunity and constitutional powers to check some of the things going on but we did not rise up to the occasion. I am sorry to say this but this is where we are”, he lamented.
Apart from the Debt Management Office’s, DMO, warnings about Nigeria’s rising debt profile, financial analysts have been consistent in raising alarm on the threat such increased borrowing will have on the nation’s economy.
“It is evident that in the eight years of Mohammadu Buhari’s regime, borrowing to fund yearly budget deficits became routine.
“Here, the projected budget deficits from 2015 to 2023 are estimated to be well over N47.73 trillion”, the financial analyst told Nigerian Pilot.
Also, fiery Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana, has joined the call on the president to lead the campaign against corruption.
He stated this yesterday at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti on Monday, at the celebration of 60 years of Aare Babalola at the bar.
According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, “Let the President lead an anti-corruption crusade, as right now we are in trouble as a country.”
“Let’s go back to the era where people who have been involved in corruption and looting cannot take part in the decision-making process of the country”, he said.
An economic expert, Williams Echendu of Williams & Co Chartered Accountants urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to look for ways to restructure and negotiate the nation’s indebtedness to avoid collapse.
“We have continuously increased the debt stock even in the face of dwindling revenue. Major infrastructural projects executed by the Buhari administration do not have the capacity to repay the loans due to insecurity and wrong prioritization of such projects.
“Projects like the rail network are facing serious security challenges which have made them unable to generate adequate revenue. Other projects like roads are not commercially viable because they are not tolled.
“Investments in aviation have not also yielded enough revenue to service the loans used for its execution.
“The debt situation in Nigeria is precarious and needs urgent intervention by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration and one of those interventions expected from him is to probe the past administration’s eight years reign.
“The present indebtedness must be negotiated and repayment restructuring should be done to give breathing space for infrastructural development.
“The government should also look at public private sector initiatives on major projects as against financing of projects mainly by additional loans”, he added.
In a related development, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, has said that Nigerians witnessed the worst phase of corruption under the last administration led by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said this while delivering a keynote speech at the 60th call to bar anniversary celebration of legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, in Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State on Monday.
Bishop Kukah noted that even though corruption did not start under the last administration, they amplified it in moral, financial and other terms.
“We have seen the worst phase of corruption in Nigeria, Femi Falana, my friend here will speak about that because he has published a series of articles talking about what happened under the Buhari administration”, he added.
