As the legislative debate on the 2022 budget, which was
presented to the joint session of lawmakers by President Muhammadu Buhari last
week continued on Wednesday, members of the House of Representatives expressed
concerns over the high rate of debt servicing.
While each lawmaker took turns to speak on the highlight of
the budget which stood at N16.39 trillion, they maintained that the proposed
budgetary provision for debt servicing was 25 per cent of the entire budget,
saying it was on the high side.
Those who spoke extensively on the worrisome debt servicing
was the Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Hon. Luke Onofiok who
observed that the sum of N3.9 trillion for debt servicing representing about 25
percent of the whole budget was worrisome.
He called for a downward review, stating that Nigeria was
too fragile to service debts at that high rate, given that the nation was still
facing the COVID-19 challenges.
On the external and internal borrowing to service budget
deficits, he posited: “Another source of concern is that the proposal before us
has a deficit of N6.2 trillion and the government is proposing new borrowings
to finance this deficit.
“What this implies is that the total public debt of Nigeria
is expected to rise to N5 trillion in 2022 fiscal year. This is worrisome not
only for today but generations unborn and the future of Nigeria.”
He called on lawmakers to reduce the borrowing or the
executive should assure the parliamentarians that the borrowing was production
and not consumption.
He argued that it would be inappropriate to borrow and leave
debt for generations yet unborn, stressing that if it’s put into production
with expected income, there won’t be any concern.
The lawmaker called for deliberate funding of power and road
infrastructure, saying: “While we put the money borrowed to infrastructure
three clear things come to mind. We have looked at security. We need to invest
in power. Let us borrow to invest in power and roads. We have road challenges
across the country. Let me use for instance Mr. Speaker, the Calabar-Itu road
that area is being cut-off.
“People spend 8 hours on the road. And we have seen
something less than a billion naira allotted to that road in the different lots
that have been given. That is quite inadequate. We have to invest in our roads
and in our public transportation.”
House Minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, spoke on the high rate
of debt servicing, noting that the nation can’t afford such at this time.
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