From Joe Effiong, Uyo
The PDP Governors’ Forum have frowned at Nigeria’s rising debt profile, saying that over 80 per cent of normal appropriation is spent on debt servicing.
In a communique at the end of their forum’s meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Monday, the Forum raised an alarm that all the gains of the PDP government under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, when Nigeria exited its foreign debt obligations, has been destroyed.
‘Borrowing for frivolous items such as funding the Nigerian Television Authority is scandalous. Money should only be borrowed for productive purposes as Nigeria’s current debt of over N36 Trillion Naira is becoming clearly unsustainable relative to our earnings and GDP.
‘We should not saddle incoming generations with the undue debt burden. The borrowing spree of the APC administration if unchecked, will certainly lead Nigeria into avoidable bankruptcy,’ the Forum noted in the communique.
The Forum expressed shock at the manner in which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) carries out its operations and decried the recent NNPCs decision not to make its statutory contributions to the Federation Account, thereby starving states and local governments and Nigerians of funds needed for employment, development and general wellbeing.
They emphasised that under the constitution the NNPC is duty-bound to make proceeds of sale or business of Petroleum available to the Federation Account which belongs to the three tiers of government, excluding reasonable and verified and verifiable cost of operations.
‘The federal government through NNPC is a manager of our oil wealth merely as a trustee for all Nigerians. The meeting frowned at a situation where the NNPC decides in a totally discretionary and often whimsical manner, how much to spend, how to spend it and how much to remit to the Federation Account, contrary to the letters and even the spirit of the 1999 Constitution.’
They called on other agencies of government such as Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Federal Inland Revenue Services, Customs and Excise and similar organisations that are statutorily required to make contributions into the Federation Account, to do more.
‘The federating states should, going forward, now have a say in the determination of operating costs to ensure transparency and accountability.’
While expressing support for the implementation of judicial and legislative autonomy in the federation and states, in conformity with the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the PDP Governors’ Forum called for more involvement of states in mining and geophysical activities within their states.
‘This is necessary not just to curtail harm to the environment but to further diversify the Nigerian economy and complement Oil as a foreign exchange earner for Nigeria.’
On the recurring question of insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria, the PDP Governors reiterated the need to decentralise the operations of the security apparatus of state even within the existing legal framework, to ensure the input of local operators in state and local governments in policing and security.
In attendance were the Sokoto State Governor, Mr Aminu Waziri Tambuwal – Chairman – who read the communique; Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State – Vice Chairman; Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State; Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State; Governor Samuel Ortom Benue State; Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State
Others Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; Governor Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde of Oyo State; Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State; Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State; Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State; Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State and Mahdi Mohd, Deputy Governor of Zamfara State.