Budget: Buhari borrows N5.01 trillion to service stolen funds

Hon. Mohammed Gudaji Kazaure, a member of the House of Representatives representing the Kazaure/Roni/Gwiwa/Yankwashi Federal Constituency, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari has budgeted over N5.1 trillion to service stolen funds that have plunged the country into debt.

He bemoaned that the corruption battle’s bar had been lowered and that those who stole funds had escaped only for the country to pay off debts at the expense of ordinary citizens.

The Jigawa lawmaker, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), believed that the nation’s so-called debts were stolen funds, and that the appropriate thing for the Buhari administration to do was to pursue the stolen funds and assets stashed abroad and recover them for the nation.

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He spoke with journalists on the sidelines of President Muhammadu Buhari’s presentation of the N16.4 trillion budget for 2022 to the joint sessions of the National Assembly lawmakers on Thursday.

“Nigerian money was looted and buried like dead bodies in the grave, and some people have stashed it abroad.” Why can’t the government form a strong investigative and interrogation Committee to summon these people?

“We need to stop borrowing because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and that is my concern.” For example, the former female Petroleum Minister in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration walked away with $60 billion. This is the Nigerian budget for the next five years.

“If this government conducts a genuine investigation, there are thousands of them, and when we investigate, we can spend the next 20 years without borrowing.” We will implement the budget with the money we have recovered.

“Seriously, this government claims to be fighting corruption, but as a legislator, I never see the corruption fight because we claim to be fighting corruption while being slow and ineffective. I am confident that if there is a thorough investigation and interrogation in this country, we will not borrow money to pay off debts.

“Unfortunately, the issue of revenue, which they said has gone down; the oil, which has gone down in many countries around the world, and if we remember, before oil was discovered in this country, Nigeria was generating revenue from agriculture.” Cotton and groundnut money was used to discover and develop oil, and agriculture was eventually abandoned.

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“Look at our throngs of unemployed youth. Consider our forests, which are currently occupied by criminals but could have been cleared and used for farming by our teeming youths. If we can do this across the six geopolitical zones, I am confident that the country will have more money than oil. We could fund the budget without incurring debt.

“However, the most embarrassing aspect is debt servicing, which was included in the 2022 budget.” We are paying off debts incurred as a result of stolen funds. Nigerians have never enjoyed the money that we are repaying as debt.

“In 2022, the funds that were supposed to be invested in education, railways, health, security, and other critical infrastructure would be used to service debts.” Individuals’ pockets are stuffed with debt.

“Go around the country and see the types of buildings in which some privileged people and government officials live, and they claim to be fighting corruption.” If you go to Maitama in Abuja, Lagos, or Port Harcourt, you will see people who live in mansions and are government officials.

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“Did they buy mansions with their salaries, despite the fact that we said we were fighting corruption?” We will not borrow money if we are truly fighting corruption. “It’s humiliating,” he concluded.