Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District, has vowed to challenge the eight hundred million dollars ($800m) loan sought by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in court.
The loan from the World Bank was intended to finance the National Social Safety Network Programme, NASSP.
The programme was expected to provide relief to the poorest of the poor in the country, following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
ATTENTION: Click “HERE” to join our WhatsApp group and receive News updates directly on your WhatsApp!
Ndume expressed concern over the increasing debt profile of the country and the potential negative impact on future generations.
He stated that while he was not against borrowing, he believed that the government should explore other options before resorting to taking on more debt.
The Senator said:
“I will go to court on that because it is unfair, illegal and unconstitutional. Let me give you example, we are two now in the studio and you say you are going to borrow one million and share among the two of us, how are you going to select the two? Beside that if you are giving to the two and they are the ones to pay that is okay but it is all Nigerians that will pay.
“If you give Nigerians today ₦4,000 randomly, how fair is that? In fact, it is unconstitutional because the constitution of Nigeria does not allow you to discriminate.
“These guys they will just use grammar to confuse this old man (Buhari) and he will just approve. He (Buhari) doesn’t understand this, they just want to steal the money, we cannot continue to allow this kind of things.
“What they are targeting is what they can get out of it not, what Nigerians can get, you can quote me on that, any of them come to challenge me on TV, I will come back to explain myself, they are misleading the President.”
