By Olakunle Olafioye
The National Action Council, NAC has called on the Federal Government to shelve its proposed plan for another $5.5 billion loan, describing the proposal as disgraceful.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last week asked the Senate to approve a proposal for another $5.5 billion foreign loan.
The Federal Government, through the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun had on Thursday explained that the loan would take the country between five and 30 years to repay.
But NAC, speaking through its National Chairman, Olapade Agoro said the loan was unnecessary and called on the federal government to make do with what it has at its disposal.
“The Federal Government should make do with what it has.
Common sense dictates that you can cut down on your expenditure. It has become an unreasonable gesture that Obasanjo administration with Okonjo-Iweala as the Finance Minister exited Nigeria out of debt burden. Obasanjo made us a free country but now another Finance Minister is leading us into what we exited and we were good for it.
“I can’t see any reasonable government borrowing to finance the budget. Why can’t we make use of what we have to meet what we need? It is not compulsory that we make a budget to meet all that we need.
“What is $5.5 billion that we cannot source from within the country? We can raise the money locally so that we don’t have to go and borrow and tie the nation down again to the apron string of the western world. It is a disgraceful proposal. Buhari should use his well-known stubbornness principle to reject that loan. We don’t need the loan,” NAC stated.