The $22.7 billion loan

William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth offers a variety of interpretations to those who are inexorably committed to the onerous enterprise of literary criticism. However, there are some expressions in Macbeth, which have become timeless and consequently indelible on the minds of people, who at one time or another, strayed into literary circles either for fun or to pass their exams. One of such popular expressions is ‘fair is foul and foul is fair’. The expression, uttered by the three witches at the beginning of the play, becomes a motif, a prognosis that defines the tragic dimension in the entire work. 

“Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair” means that what is considered good could be evil and what is considered evil could be good. This kind of paradoxical alignment has characterized the life and times of the Federal Government of Nigeria, especially in the present dispensation. Of course, few decisions of this government, which originally was thought to be evil, eventually turned out to be good, yet many more decisions thought to be good, have turned out to be insidious evil. A decision by the government at the moment which appears to be good but is indeed composite evil is the $22.7 billion loan from various financial institutions across the world with 70% of the amount coming from China Exim Bank. Although the decision to take the loan by the Federal Government seems good on the surface based on the advertised reasons, the underbelly is a cesspool of overflowing agony, a slippery slope of assured disaster.

Beyond the fact that the loan will further plunge Nigeria into the abyss of debt, there is a course to worry because another recession inevitably stares us in the face. More worrisome is that our current budget is predicated on foreign earnings from oil at the price of $57 per barrel. However, the current price of oil now at the international market is $30-$36 per barrel with obvious indications that the price could be lower in the coming days. If market forces at the international level remain the way they are, it follows that Nigeria will not be able to implement the current budget effectively and certainly will never be able to repay most of the loans that now hang on our necks like an albatross. What will be the result, a country that will further be immersed in excruciating poverty, gridding penury, and infrastructural decay? Nigerians must be alive to these situations and consider if the proposed loan is a fair decision on them or a foul means to impoverish millions but enrich a few in the corridors of power.

I am also very concerned about the fair or foul conditions of the loan given that its disbursement excludes the Igbo speaking states in Nigeria. I have heard many people complain that Nigeria’s President Mohammadu Buhari hates the Igbo nation. These people have cited many reasons for their conclusions but my enlightened mind has refused to subscribe to such a narrative believing that the best of men are still men. However, the $22.7 billion loan and its mode of disbursement have not only lent credence to the hate narrative, but it does also convey an enemy action on the part of the wielders of power against the Igbo states of Nigeria. It defies every strand of reason and commonsense, it negates the principle of equity and federal character as enshrined in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. It is bleeding injustice against the Igbos.

For those who may not know, the $22.7 billion is a loan already approved by the Senate for infrastructural development and other projects in Nigeria. The loan has been marked for disbursement to zones in the following order. General: $5,853,900,000.00. South-West: $200,000,000.00. South-South:$4,270,000,000.00. South-East: $0. North-West: $6,372,000,000.00. North-East: $300,000,000.00. North-Central: $6,531,000,000.00. From the breakdown of this loan, no single money is allocated to the South-East therefore, no project will be carried out there. This is unjustifiable by any device or mechanism of cognition. The question to ask is – is it fair or foul to treat the Igbos who inhabit five states of the South-East in the way the current government is treating them by the disbursement of a loan collected in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

I need someone to educate me on the rationale behind this kind of treacherous disbursement. Is it that the South-East is not a part of Nigeria or the zone does not have any project that should be undertaken for the benefit of the people? Should we pander to the emotions that indeed, the President hates the Igbos and does not have any apology about it? It questions natural justice that while the Igbos have been tactfully excluded from the disbursement of this loan, they are expected to participate in the servicing of the same loan. What kind of law is it that requires one to excrete what one did not swallow? What message is the Federal Government guilefully communicating to the Igbos?

From these shredding above, China Exim Bank and all the financial institutions should cancel the loan to Nigeria. If they do not do so, first, the country will be plunged into recession given the current price of oil in the market and will not be able to repay the loan. Second, the disbursement betrays a sense of hatred, marginalization, and a deliberate attempt to humiliate a section of the country. There is no justifiable reason for China Exim Bank and other financial institutions to release the loan to Nigeria, a loan that will cripple the Nigerian economy and impoverish the people. Again, by the mode of disbursement, it is unfair before God and man to treat a section of the country with so much disdain. To be sure, the Igbos have the material capacity to turn Igboland into a sophisticated metropolis without any help from the Federal Government unlike some zones in the country that cannot do without government patronage. Even with all the government patronage, such zones are caught in the vicious pangs of poverty, illiteracy, and underdevelopment.

I do not want to believe that the zero amount reflected on the disbursement chart for the Igbos is an oversight. If it is an oversight, then let the Federal Government correct the glaring mistake and allocate a commensurate amount to the South-East for the sake of equity and fairness. But even if the mistake is corrected and the South-East is allocated a substantial amount of the money, the more weighty challenge still stares us in the face – how will Nigeria repay this loan seeing that oil price in the international market has nosedived? Nigeria must not crumble under the weight of economic illiteracy. I am sure that there are many economists and financial experts in the country who can communicate the ominous atmosphere to the power demagogues in our country. If we all mind our businesses and ignore this sensitive scenario, posterity will judge those whose voices would have saved millions of people from anguish.

Dr. Adiele teaches in the Department of English, Mountain Top University via [email protected]