Senate Moves To Curb Misappropriation Of Foreign Loans By State Govts
*Parleys World Bank Officials On Modalities
The Senate Thursday, set the machinery in motion for enforcing proper utilizatuon of loans collected by respective state governors.
Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan ( APC Yobe North),
There have been complaints from across the 36 States on non utilization of foreign loans collected by their respective state governments for projects execution with attendant rising debt profile.
The Senate indicated willingness to ensure utilization of loans by states after a meeting with officials of the World Bank in Nigeria to map out strategies on appropriate use of loans taken by the state government.
Addressing the media after the meeting, the said the move by the senate was in line with the need for fiscal discipline in public spending especially on monies borrowed by the affected government in form of loans to facilitate development and prevent backwardness and burdensome debts in the states.
He said, “The national assembly participates in a limited way in granting states loans from international agencies including the wold bank. Normally the federal government guarantees certain loans to states and therefore the national assembly scrutinises the programmes and projects that are lined for utilisation of those loans and this is our role.
“In ensuring proper utilization of such loans by respective States governments, we have met with world bank officials. We have given our honest advice to them on how to bring about fiscal discipline by state governments on such loans.
“One of which is to ensure that state Houses of Assembly Committees like that of appropriations public accouts committee and the one on finance are given some kind of support by the world bank to ensure that they have the capacity to scrutinise and oversight the utilisation of such funds.
“Also, the office of the auditor general for every state should be enhanced and the capacity of such staff of the offices of the auditor general must be better so that they write very credible and deep reports of such utilization of funds and of course those who will be implementing the projects, those who will be spending the money in the offices of the commissioners of finance, budget and planning and so on should also be supported and reformed”.
Lawam said the meeting was very fruitful and strategic in preventing reckless spending of such funds by state governors .
He said that debt profile of States that had collected such loans were not discussed at the meeting as to know whether any of them had surpassed its financial capability for such loans for now.
The National Assembly is expected to resume from its annual recess next week Tuesday.
Olufemi Samuel, Abuja
