By Adadareporters
The federal government should be wary of various economic policies being recommended by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank because they do not align with Nigeria’s economic realities.
A political economist, Dr Chukwuma Okoli, said in Enugu on Monday that Nigeria’s worsening debt profile is caused by corruption, adding that Nigeria is among countries of the world that project execution costs most.
According to him, “The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank recommended that more taxes be imposed on Nigerians to sustain the economy. Both bodies are created to sustain the global capitalist system. Their suggestions are anchored on liberal economy, which cannot help Nigeria. They encourage us to impose more taxes on the citizenry. IMF’s interests do not align with Nigeria’s model. Taxing the poor masses creates more poverty. IMF gives blind eye to our plight.”
On Nigeria’s rising debt profile, Okoli said, “The truth is that Nigeria defies all social science theories because of corruption and political interest. This is the main reason why funds borrowed are not properly utilised. Projects they were meant to execute are not seen, and such funds have been expended. Nigeria has one of the highest project execution costs in the world, and the single cause is corruption.”
Recall that Dr Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, kicked against the federal government’s plan to borrow $1.5 billion from the World Bank. Moghalu on his X official page said Nigeria is becoming a carcass, ‘and our political class its scavengers’.
He wrote, “There is a real problem when Nigeria is set to borrow another $1.5 billion from @WorldBank for budget support, and SUVs worth N160 million each are reportedly to be bought for 360 members of the House of Representatives. We are not yet serious as a country. Nigeria is becoming a carcass, and our political class its scavengers.”
Our correspondent reports that the Tinubu administration had approached the World Bank for a fresh loan of $400m for the conditional cash transfer to 15 million households as one of the measures to cushion the effects of petrol subsidy removal on Nigerians.
The loan will bring to $1.2bn the amount that the FG is borrowing from the World Bank for the cash transfer as it had earlier secured a loan of $800m for the same purpose.
President Tinubu said the conditional cash transfer to 15 million households in his address during the country’s independence on October 1 as part of measures to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal on petrol, which has led to an astronomic rise in the cost of living.
The payment of N25,000 monthly to 15 million households for three months will be from October to December 2023, he said.
According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N87.38 trillion in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, recording an increase of 75.29 percent.
It was gathered that various states and the FCT account for the 10 percent of the nation’s debt.
