Daily Independent Online.
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Friday, August 13, 2004.
Minister defends N10.5b loan
By Uchenna Awom,
National
Assembly Correspondent,
Abuja
Environment Minister, Col. Bala Mande (rtd), on Thursday in
Abuja told the House of Representatives Committee on Environment that the $78
million (N10.5 billion) foreign loan was for the implementation of the
Ministry’s Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Programme.
Also on Thursday, the House Committee Chairman On Media and
Public Affairs, Abike Dabiri, said the House members would hold its retreat
from Monday to Wednesday at three centres; Oshogbo, Minna and Bauchi. President
Olusegun Obasanjo would declare the retreat open in Minna on Monday.
Mande, who was summoned to come and explain the purpose and
for what reason the loan facility was secured, gave the break down and source
of the loan as $70 million from the World Bank and $8 million as GF grants for
the improvement and sustenance of the Yankari Games Reserve, Bauchi and other
parks in the country.
He also disclosed that the Federal Government would
contribute $1.6million to the five-year project, the states $5.6 million and
the National Parks $2.3 million.
He said the facility from the World Bank was interest free,
30 years repayment period with 10 years moratorium and a 0.5 per cent service
charge. But the GF grant of $8 million, he explained would be managed by the
National Parks of Nigeria and was not repayable.
According to him, the loan was authorised by the Federal
Executive Council to facilitate the project, which was launched by President
Olusegun Obasanjo last July to end in June of 2009. He added that the project
was basically meant to alleviate the poverty of Nigerians.
But Chairman of the committee, Emeka Atuma, faulted the
minister and the FEC for taking such unilateral decision to secure the foreign
loan without recourse to the National Assembly, drawing his attention to the constitutional
provision, which states that no agency of government will secure foreign loan
facilities without the approval of the National Assembly.
Besides, he asked the minister to point out under what
sub-head in the 2004 budget was provision made for the project since it was
specifically stated and for which he was aware of that any overhead must be in
consonance with the 2004 Appropriation Act.
Atuma said the method of collecting the loan was
unconstitutional, adding that even the Federal Executive Council has no
constitutional backing to approve the loan no matter for what purpose without
getting approval from the National Assembly.
However, Mande pointedly told the members that as for
constitutional backing, he believes the Ministry of Finance has the
constitutional right to negotiate for loan facilities on behalf of other
agencies of government, as such the question as to the constitutionality or
otherwise of the loan should be directed at the Finance Ministry that
negotiated for the loan.
