Hon Justice Dattijo Muhammad
Oct 26, 2023
With Nigeria’s current debt profile at over N87 trillion in Q2, 2023 according to the Debt Management Office, DMO, financial experts have faulted the Senate for its secret approval of the request of President Bola Tinubu to securitise Nigeria’s Ways and Means advances, bringing to the fore its implication towards the nation’s fiscal responsibility drive.
This formed part of discussions at the just concluded two day Audit Reporting Training for journalists in Lagos.
Speaking to participants drawn from both the print and online media, Mr. Tilewa Adebajo of CFG Advisory, Lagos noted that the act validates the conversion of Nigeria’s huge ways and means indebtedness to further loans as bonds and other securities.
“Securitisation means the government now issues treasury bills and bonds to pay off the ways and means”.
According to him, ways and means was never to exceed N5 trillion yet it has surpassed N30 trillion as of today, which is against section 38 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, under which the Federal Government is granted the authority to borrow from the apex bank, but such overdraft should not surpass five per cent of the government’s revenue from the previous year.
“This is the biggest criminal act for me in the last 3 years.”
Adebajo expressed further concern that the action would compound Nigeria’s indebtedness.
“Ways and means financing is now 30 times more than is legally allowed.
Securitisation of ways and means is an illegal act. Nigeria’s deficit is increasing annually. Now ninety-five (95%) per cent of Nigeria’s revenue yields for debt service.”
“While regular citizens cannot do much to stop the spendthrift direction of the Federal and State governments, the media and professional groups should be more active in calling out misbehaviour and wrong direction. “Unfortunately, the citizens are too busy struggling with survival.
“The key responsibility falls on the media and the elite. The elite have compromised. The media are not pulling their weight.”
Even so, he urged citizens to pay closer attention to Nigeria’s financial management.
Speaking in the same vein, past ICAN President, Muhammadu Zakari, noted that this is a breach of the country’s fiscal responsibility law and undermining of the appropriation law.
He call out the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Federal Government for the total and complete breach of both laws and the CBN Act.
Emeka Izeze, director and partner, said the Audit Reporting Training: X-Raying State Government Audit Reports is a flagship capacity development programme of FrontFoot Media Initiative.
The Lagos workshop, FrontFoot Media Initiative stated, is the fourth in its series to train the media to pay closer attention to the audit report for its significance. Earlier workshops were in Benin, Awka, and Abuja, FCT.
