$6.9bn Loan: Stop Profiteering, Looting With COVID-19, PDP Tells FG Officials
…Urges NASS to protect Nigerians
BY GRACE ANYANWU, ABUJA – The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to stop using the deadly COVID-19 pandemic as gateway for corrupt profiteering and looting of the national treasury.
The PDP also lamented that the financial opacity amidst allegations of diversion of billions of naira meant for palliatives to vulnerable citizens is already frustrating the commitment by Nigerians and other well-meaning groups in the overall effort to combat the spread of the scourge in our country.
The party particularly expressed concern over the activities of certain officials, who it noted are using the COVID-19 pandemic to create and manipulate situations that circumvent financial documentation and accountability rules and pave way for the looting of the treasury and borrowed funds, while the people are left at the mercy of the plague.
A statement by the party said that this is in addition to anxieties that such officials are hiding under the demands of COVID-19 pandemic to mop up the nation’s international reserves as well as driving it into a frenzied $6.9 billion foreign borrowing, with no clear-cut terms.
The statement which was signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, noted that this is amidst allegations of plots by unscrupulous officials to manipulate the system and create channel for a slush fund that will be diverted to corrupt APC leaders and the cabal, while mortgaging the future of the nation’s generation yet unborn.
Ologbondiyan further said; “Our party fears that there are attempts to hide under COVID-19 to empty our $3.4 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) saving, thereby leaving our nation dry.
“While it is obvious that the Buhari administration seeks to use the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease as an excuse for its mismanagement of the economy, which it had wrecked before the outbreak of the pandemic, our party firmly rejects the attempt by rogues in government circles to use the scourge to ‘cash out’ our treasury and further destroy our economy.
“This is especially as the APC administration is reputed to be a haven of corrupt individuals, scammers, treasury looters, certificate forgers, election riggers, blackmailers, purveyor of fake news and violators of rule of law and court orders.”
The PDP therefore urged Nigerians to note that, while a handful of people have not acknowledged receiving such funds and officials involved have not been able to account for the disbursement, humongous figures are already being bandied to have been spent.
According to the PDP; “The situation is pathetic and shows how low the social investment system, which the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, had earlier warned as being riddled with corruption, had degenerated.”
The party therefore urged the National Assembly to protect the people by immediately scaling up its oversight activities on the handling of the COVID-19 social intervention funding.
It said that the legislators must ensure clauses that guarantee transparency and accountability, particularly in drawing from the treasury as well as in approving any further foreign loans for the Buhari administration, are enshrined in Act.
Furthermore, it urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), to set up special squads across the country to monitor the implementation of the palliatives and bring culprits to book.
The PDP stressed that the safety and wellbeing of Nigerians must be paramount at this critical time.
