By Ken Henshaw

... Calls for Budget Implementation

On the 24th of September 2009, Social Action in effort with other civil society organizations in Nigeria, launched a debt moratorium campaign in Abuja. The campaign seeks to amplify effort to get the National Assembly to place a ban on all further external borrowing by Nigeria, and initiate processes for a public audit of all external loans including what they were used for and the conditions upon which they were taken.

Speaking on the rationale for the campaign, Programmes Officer of Social Action, Ken Henshaw said that Nigeria is gradually sliding back into the era of unsustainable debts. “After Nigeria’s exit from the Paris and London Club of creditors with the 2005 debt buy back deal, government has returned to the old habit of securing credit facilities for the most flimsy of reasons. The debt burden currently stands at $3.7billion and is likely to increase with new loan offers being made by the World Bank Group”.

Reflecting on the governments rationale for its renewed external borrowing, Ken Henshaw stated that before bothering with funds to salvage the supposed budget deficit, effort should be made to evaluate how well the country’s resources have been used. ‘Serious effort in this regard, targeted at the federal, state and local governments will unravel budget balance enough to brave any deficit’.
It will be recalled that the National Assembly recently called on the presidency to forthwith seize all external borrowing, and mandated a committee to investigate Nigeria’s more recent loans.

The campaign which was launched in a Town Hall Meeting at the National Press Centre, Abuja, drew participants from labour, the academia, students and community based organizations.
In his opening speech, Bibi Farouk of the Department of Political Science University of Abuja described Nigeria’s past and present debt situation as an expression of poverty of leadership that has been with Nigeria since independence. He noted that external borrowing had, through the years, evolved to an additional avenue for siphoning public funds by political office holders.
Ene Obi of Action Aid in her presentation traced a link between debt and underdevelopment, saying that it is impossible for societies to develop with loans of the like Nigerian governments were inclined towards taking. She went further to advice that it is also important for Nigerians to critically look at the huge domestic debt profile of the government  saying that it was reaching unsustainable proportions with nothing to show for them.
Participants at the meeting commended the effort of Social Action in seeking transparency and accountability especially as it relates to external borrowing. A communiqué calling for an end to all further external borrowing and a public audit of all previous external loans was also adopted.
The occasion was equally used to present Social Action’s briefing paper ‘Leaving the Debt’ .