The Federal Government’s plan to borrow $29.960 billion from external sources may be stalled by some institutional lapses, it was learnt yesterday.

In an interview with some senators, particularly on the Senate Committee on Appropriation, it was learnt that such a request for loans and grants from external sources requires accompanying documents, which only a substantive auditor- general of the federation could approve.

The lawmakers said standards set by global financial institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (ADB) require a confirmation report from a substantive auditor-general before the funds are disbursed to recipient countries.


The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje, expressed doubts over the workability of the loan request.
“I just hope that the Federal Government will succeed in obtaining these loans with the situation on ground,” he said.

Nigeria does not have a substantive auditor-general since the retirement in May of the last one, Mr. Samuel Ukura. The tenure of Mrs. Florence Anyanwu, who is acting in that capacity, has also expired.

The Public Accounts Committee in the two chambers of the National Assembly had observed lack of coordination and poor quality of presentations by staff in the Office of the Auditor- General in the absence of a substantive head.

To that effect, the committee has been urging the executive arm of the Federal Government to get a substantive auditor- general appointed.

It was further learnt that the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) had in a bid to accomplish this task, issued a directive in May 2016 to the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) to get set for the appointment of a new auditor-general for the federation.

The memo from the SGF, with reference 58365/S.3/11/82, dated May 25, 2016, was signed by Mohammed Bukar, Permanent Secretary (General Services) office of the SGF.

The FCSC had in July shortlisted and forwarded the names of three candidates for the position to President Muhammadu Buhari after written and oral interviews.

The shortlisted candidates were Christopher Nyong, Nabasu Bako and Omoniyi Adeyeye.

President Buhari is said to have since forwarded the names of the candidates to a seven-man committee set up by him to determine the best man for the job.

According to a source in the Presidency, the seven-man committee had since submitted its report and its recommendations are awaiting consideration.

Nigeria does not have a substantive
auditor-general since the retirement in
May of the last one, Mr. Samuel Ukura.
The tenure of Mrs. Florence Anyanwu,
who is acting in that capacity, has also
expired.

gabazin080:
seconded. buhari should be stopped before he sells us to slave trade.

Akinwerndey:
Clueless govt with clueless ideas....

harmbhrosz:
Pls let's stop this man from putting us in debt

$29.96B FOREIGN LOAN: FG leaves out South East in projects

In what appears a further marginalisation of the South East zone, the Fed-eral Government has left out the region in projects which President Muhammadu Buhari plans to execute with the pro¬posed $29.960 billion infra-structure loan.

A breakdown of how the loan would be spent on infra¬structure between 2016 and 2018 shows that none of the projects contained in the gov¬ernment’s document is locat¬ed in the South East geo-polit¬ical zone.

President Buhari had on Tuesday asked the Senate to ap¬prove the loan from multilater¬al financial institutions to ena¬ble his administration execute critical infrastructure and oth¬er social intervention initiatives across the country.
The Finance Ministry said the $29.960 billion loan is de¬signed to address infrastructure deficit in the country.

But in a statement released to journalists on Thursday on the projects to be funded by the loan, there was no single infra¬structural project allocated to the South East - an area most acutely hit by poor infrastruc-ture and an acute shortage of various social amenities.

According to the statement, issued by the Special Assistant to the Minister of Finance on Media,[b] Mr. Festus Akanbi, in¬frastructural projects are allo¬cated $18.3 billion.

The projects to be em¬barked upon are the Mambil¬la Hydro Electric Power Project ($4.8 billion), the Moderni¬sation Coastal Railway Pro¬ject (Calabar-Port Harcourt-Onne Deep Sea Port Segment) valued at $3.5 billion and the Abuja Mass Transit Rail Project (Phase 2) put at $1.6 billion.

Others are the Lagos-Kano Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Segment Dou¬ble Track) estimated at $1.3 bil¬lion and the Lagos-Kano Rail¬way Modernisation Project (Kano-Kaduna Segment Dou¬ble Track) valued at $1.1 bil¬lion.

The balance of $11 billion will be expended on Eurobond ($4.5 billion), Federal Govern¬ment Budget Support ($3.5 bil¬lion), Social Support for Educa-tion and Health ($2.2 billion), Agriculture ($1.2 billion), and Economic Management and Statistics ($.2 billion).

According to the statement, the borrowing has a three-year plan covering proposed pro¬jects for 2016-2018 and is ex¬pected to be phased over the three year period.[/b]

The ministry said that the borrowings are highly conces¬sional (non-commercial), with low interest rates and long ten¬ors.

The Federal Government affirmed that the funding is being sought from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), the Islamic De¬velopment Bank (IDB), Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and the China Exim Bank.

The planned Eurobond is¬suance in the international capital markets, the statement pointed out, is the only com¬mercial source of funding.

But when The AUTHOR¬ITY contacted Akanbi on the apparent omission of the South East on the project allocation, he said that the loan has noth¬ing to do with regional consid¬eration. He said that the gov¬ernment would still reflect all the regions in the 2017 Budget.

Akanbi said: “I don’t have an answer to your question. This is just a Federal Govern¬ment thing that was presented today. It’s not a regional thing. There are other projects like ag¬riculture.
“These are strategic things just like intervention for three years’ programme. That does not stop the Federal Govern¬ment from planning for all the regions next year and in the 2018 budget. It’s just for sup¬port. It’s not the main thing, just an ad-hoc initiative.

“The government is going to sit down and work on the 2017 budget and all the regions will be covered. It has nothing to do with regions. These are specific projects on ground”.

Bujumbura:
Anything to stop that money from being borrowed is welcomed by me

Sibrah:
If borrowing when oil sold for $120pb isn't slave trade, clueless ideas or debt I wonder what some persons want when oil is selling for less than $50pb.
Too many vile posters these days. So many of them are just lazy folks who have no sellable skill or products. I will advice that people start businesses that can lead to earning of dollar and stop shouting Buhari up and down.

God Bless Igboland and every Igbo man and woman.
God cause Igbo land to be fruitful and to multiply for anything good that will be done on the land.
God Bless the tribe called Igbo
God evry blood and curse that have been spilled that is affecting every land in this country, may such blood and curse not affect Igbo land.
Deliver every Igbo person from the covenants of our ancestor entered that is affect us and the land.
Igboland I bless.
Igboland and Igbo people, we have been scantified by the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen

Akinwerndey:
for your small mind U dn yarn matter be that o... Please show me your intellectual versatility and common reasoning by answering these simple questions.
1. Where is all the Abacha loot Buhari has collected?
2. Where are the recovered funds he claim he had collected from his anti corruption fight?
3. The government revenues from the TSA where are they?
4. What's has happened to the Chinese loan he collected earlier this year
5. Where is the 6billion pounds he collected from the UK?
6. China last gave him grants including other Africa too, where is it?
7. The proposed loan is it really necessary this point in time?
8. Do U know the worth of $29 billion?
My friend next time try to engage your brains and ask questions from those who know better to explain things to you!

Sibrah:
I av seen this post 1000 times before and av replied it 999 times before.

Akinwerndey:
for your small mind U dn yarn matter be that o... Please show me your intellectual versatility and common reasoning by answering these simple questions.
1. Where is all the Abacha loot Buhari has collected?
2. Where are the recovered funds he claim he had collected from his anti corruption fight?
3. The government revenues from the TSA where are they?
4. What's has happened to the Chinese loan he collected earlier this year
5. Where is the 6billion pounds he collected from the UK?
6. China last gave him grants including other Africa too, where is it?
7. The proposed loan is it really necessary this point in time?
8. Do U know the worth of $29 billion?
My friend next time try to engage your brains and ask questions from those who know better to explain things to you!

Caseless:


I forgot this post is vacant.


If it's by appointment, please, senator mamora should be put there. I dunno how it's done .