Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress Presidential Candidate Atiku Abubakar has asked the National Assembly to reject President Bola Tinubu’s request for approval to borrow 20.52 billion dollars and 1.045 billion euros.
He said the request proves his October 12 warning about a loan plan of up to 20 billion dollars was correct. Atiku stated that the President’s failure to name the specific projects the loans would fund raises serious concerns. He added that borrowed public money could be channelled through the Lagos to Calabar Coastal Highway, now rerouted inland, to political campaigners and favoured contractors.
In a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku recalled that on October 12 he warned Nigerians that Tinubu was reportedly preparing to borrow up to 20 billion dollars in connection with the Lagos to Calabar Coastal Highway.
He said he asked the President to confirm or deny the plan and publish the accounts. He noted that the President did neither. Atiku pointed out that today the President has asked the Senate to approve 20.52 billion dollars and 1.045 billion euros in external loans. He said his warning has been vindicated.
Atiku explained that the President has listed broad sectors but has not provided a project by project account of what this enormous borrowing will fund. He stressed that Nigerians have not been given clear project details, costs, locations or contractors to scrutinise.
He described that silence as especially troubling given the highway’s inland rerouting. He said Nigerians have every right to ask whether it is becoming a pipeline for borrowed money to reach Tinubu’s campaigners and favoured contractors.
Atiku questioned how the President can ask lawmakers to saddle Nigerians with more than 20 billion dollars and 1 billion euros in debt without identifying the projects and their costs barely 12 weeks before an election. He asked whether this is a development plan for Nigerians or a campaign financing scheme dressed up as infrastructure.
Atiku stated that the President cannot continue taking frivolous loans on the eve of his departure from office. He said it should be on record that one of the first responsibilities he will undertake as President is to scrutinise and investigate every kobo borrowed, especially loans taken in the final year of the current tenure.
He added that Nigerians will ask questions and that answers will be found by every lawful means. Atiku put local and international lenders on notice that any loan granted to this winding down administration must meet all constitutional, statutory and due process requirements. He said that upon assumption of office he will scrutinise every such loan. He warned that any borrowing found to have been obtained without proper authorisation or process will be challenged and will not be allowed to stand.
Atiku insisted that the National Assembly must not approve a single dollar until Tinubu publishes every project, contract, cost, contractor, loan term and repayment obligation.
He said no public money should be borrowed in the dark and no lawmaker should sign a blank cheque against Nigeria’s future. He added that the burden was on Tinubu to prove that the borrowing would serve the country, not his political interests. Atiku urged lawmakers to publish the proposal and supporting documents and subject them to rigorous scrutiny before any decision.
