THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday, kicked against the request of President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly, seeking approval for an external borrowing of $29.96 billion and the movement of N180 billion appropriated for special intervention in the 2016 budget to funding of “critical recurrent and capital items.”
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by its national publicity secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the party called on President Buhari to, “first and foremost, explain to Nigerians what his administration has done with the so-called ‘recovered looted funds’ and how far the 2016 budget is faring.”
The party, while disagreeing with the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government on the proposed loan, insisted that “President Buhari must itemise what he intends to finance with this proposed borrowing of almost $30 billion, instead of lumping it up in a coded term and plunge the nation into burden of debt.”
According to the party, “this approach cannot be the preferred solution to the economic quagmire. Nigerians need to know how much revenue government has been able to generate from crude oil, non-oil and independent revenue sources since assumption of office from May 2015 to September 2016.”
The party said the clarification would boost confidence of Nigerians on the management of their resources, especially in this period of recession, before thinking of engaging in external borrowing
It pleaded with the two chambers of the National Assembly to reject the request by the government.
