Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has said the Federal Government’s plan to secure a $1bn Eurobond might prolong the nation’s economic crisis.
The governor, who is also the Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party’s Governors’ Forum, challenged the Federal Government to clarify who the beneficiaries of the bond would be as its repayment would last till 2032.
The governor, in a statement issued on Friday, by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, threatened to sue the Federal Government if it fails to do so.
He said, “What I’m even worried about and which they must explain to us is that you cannot get a bond without committing it to the source.
“Is the repayment going to be made by direct deductions from Nigeria’s crude oil sales or from Federal Government’s share from the federation account?
“If it is going to be made directly from proceeds of crude oil accruing to Nigeria as a country, then the bond belongs to the federal, state and local governments and not the Federal Government alone.
“The Federal Government is just one of the federating units making up Nigeria and revenues accruing to the country cannot be used to repay bond taken by the Federal Government for its own use alone.”
Fayose said the Federal Government must therefore tell Nigerians how it would repay the facility from now till 2032.
He said, “So, we have to find out and take steps. The Federal Government should bring the money and we share it; we take our percentage and it takes its own. The Federal Government cannot take that money and deduct from source and tell us that the money, which belongs to all of the federating units, is for it alone.”
Lamenting a lack of fiscal federalism in the current government, the governor noted that Federal Government’s affairs were shrouded in secrecy.
“We will definitely go to court and ask questions,” he said.
Expressing the fear that the $1 billion Eurobond might plunge the nation into more serious economic woes as its repayment was scheduled to last till 2032, Fayose said, “the APC-led government is behaving like the prodigal son who asked for his inheritance and spent it lavishly.
“It is a prodigal government who wants to destroy this country. The rate at which it is taking loans, which would keep this country indebted till 2032, is quite unfortunate.”
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