For failing to respond to a letter in which he advised President Muhammadu Buhari not to borrow $3.5 billion to finance the 2016 Budget and to recover the outstanding loans and accrued revenues payable to the Federation Account, human rights activist, Chief Femi Falana (SAN), has threatened to drag the Federal Government to court.
Falana, in a letter dated, February 12, 2016 and addressed to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said he would commence legal proceedings not later than February 29, 2015 with a view to compel the Federal Government to recover loans, royalties, levies and other recoverable revenues payable to the Federation Account, which is not less than $66.5 billion.
The one paragraph letter reads: “Since you have not deemed it fit to react to the serious issues raised in the letter, kindly be informed that we shall commence legal proceedings not later than February 29, 2015, with a view to compelling the federal government to recover the said loans, royalties, levies and other recoverable revenues of not less than $66.5 billion.”
In a letter previous dated, February 5, 2016, and also addressed to Mrs Adeosun, he had urged President Buhari to jettison the plan to take a $3.5 billion loan to finance the 2016 budget from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) due to the unpalatable conditionalities attached to it.
He had urged the government to rather recover outstanding loans and accrued revenues payable to the Federation Account and use same to fund the budget.
The lawyer said that the hapless Nigerian people should not be made to pay for the gross mismanagement of the national economy by the federal government and the profligacy of the pampered members of the ruling class.
According to him, instead of taking a loan of $2.5 billion with dangerous conditionalities from the World Bank, the federal government should recover the aforesaid loans and revenues of not less than $66.5 billion with the assistance of the anti-graft agencies.
Falana gave the details of the said recoverable loans and revenue as:
“From five cycles of independent audit reports compiled by the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the potential recoverable revenues payable to the Federation Account are not less than $20,221,018,007, or approximately $20.2bn).
“The potential recoverable revenues are said to have arisen from “underpayment/underassessment of taxes, royalties, levies and rents. If you require more information in respect of this matter you may wish to contact your colleague, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning. In her capacity as the immediate-past executive secretary of NEITI, she had called on the federal government to recover the said sum of $20.2 billion.
“On October 4, 2006, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) apportioned $7 billion to 14 Nigerian banks to “manage” out of the nation’s external reserves, which stood at $38.07 billion, as at the end of July, 2006. The amount involved represented 18.39 per cent of the total external reserves at the material time.
“In addition, following the crisis of global capitalism, which occurred in 2008, the CBN gave a bailout of $4 billion (N600 billion) to the commercial banks in the country. The CBN has not deemed it fit to ask for the refund of the total sum of $11 billion injected into the banking system in the space of two years.
“On September 6, 2015, the Presidency announced that the management of the NNPC had commenced the process of recovering of the sum of $9.6 billion in over-deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on major capital projects and the legacy OPA/SWAP oil contracts.
“A fortnight ago, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, disclosed that the federal government had concluded arrangements to recover an additional $750 million of the Abacha loot.”
Falana also noted that the ongoing Senate probe into the affairs of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) had revealed that the corporation had accumulated over $25 billion (about N5 trillion) debts, a violation of its Act which put the debt ceiling at N800 billion.
He recalled that AMCON’s managing director, Mr Ahmed Kuru, had stated that most of the debtors of AMCON were ‘big men who fly in private jets, live in big mansions and they have taken money and they are not paying back.’
Falana continued: “Having regard to the fact that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose endorsement is required for the World Bank loan of $2.5 billion, will insist that certain unpalatable conditionalities be imposed on the people of Nigeria, we urge the federal government to jettison the plan to take the loan.
“While acknowledging the concerted efforts to recover the looted wealth of the nation through the anti-graft agencies and the Arms Procurement Panel, the Buhari administration should embark on the immediate recovery of the aforesaid loans and accrued revenues with a view to financing the 2016 budget and the infrastructural development of the nation.”
He reminded the federal government that when Nigeria paid $12.4 billion to exit the London/Paris Club in 2005, it had assured the Nigerian people that the $2.1 billion the country paid annually to service the Paris Club debt would be made available to fund critical priority sectors such as education, health, etc, and stimulate the economy.
According to him, not only have the critical sectors been neglected, but the federal government has further plunged the country into indebtedness, with Nigeria currently indebted to the tune of $64 billion; yet it is seeking another loan of $2.5 billion from the World Bank and $1 billion from the AfDB to fund the 2016 Budget.
-Leadership