BY CHUKS NNOCHIRI IN ABUJA•
Debt Management Office (DMO) has disclosed that the nation’s debt would hit N38.68 trillion by December 31, 2021.
This was contained in the report submitted by DMO to the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed for presentation to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Chaired by Senator Clifford Odia.
The Minister presentation shows that external and domestic debts of the federal and state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) stood at N31.01 trillion as at June 30, 2020, adding that it is projected, based on existing approval, to rise to N32.51 trillion by December 31, 2020, and N38.68 trillion by December 31, 2021.
Recall that the 2021 budget provides for new borrowing of N4,281.17 billion. While domestic borrowing is N2,140.58 billion, external borrowing is N2,140.58 billion, making a total of N4,281.17 billion.
Responding to numerous abandoned road projects across the country, the Minister, who spoke during the budget defence, revealed that the current Sukuk fund, which is N162 billion, is for 45 roads cutting across the six geopolitical zones.
She said: “I’m one person that feels that we should just do this and take one major road in one geopolitical zone and finish.
“We were not able to do that because of the processes in which appropriation is made both at the executive as well as the legislative arms of government.
“But truly, if we were able to just take one or two projects at a time and complete it before going to the next one, it will be better.
“So what the contractor does is the bit that has been cut out for him to do in that particular area. Once the fund is released and it is finished, we stop again. That’s the consequence of these numerous projects that we put in the budget. It is not related to Sukuk-funded projects alone, it cuts across all the projects.”
She further said that “you will see a road that costs, maybe, N5 billion, and you will see a provision for N100m, N200m or 300m. Of course, the project will never finish. After two years, the contractor comes back and asks for variation, and the amount keeps growing.
“I wish that we get to a point when we sit down as government and agree that let us select a few projects, finish them in 2020, and then in 2021, we select the next. So that on a geopolitical basis, those selections are done as a collective process.”
The Minister said work on the legacy projects, Lagos-Ibadan highway, 2nd Niger Bridge, East-West road, and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road, are ongoing without stop because funds were available and they are few.
According to her, “the NSIA was assigned four major road projects to do. These projects are Lagos-Ibadan highway, 2nd Niger Bridge, East-West road, and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road.
“After the President gave approval, the appropriation for that year, 2019 was remitted to the NSIA, and then added its own fund.
“The projects are going on course because there is funding on the ground and because they are few, they are concentrating on them and work is ongoing. I wish we get to a point when we narrow down project implementation to a few projects at a time.”
On the delay in releasing Sukuk funds to contractors for executed projects, the minister said, though the fund is protected, there are procedures put in place to verify claims that will be paid.
“There is an audit process, the first batch has been released, the second batch is being released as we speak.
“There are some checks that we have to put in place to make sure that the claim that is being made is actually valid. There are parties that have been engaged to do the second level of verification in addition to the claims the Ministry of Works sends as invoices due for payment.
“The batch which is about N58 billion has been released. There is another N35 billion that is under processing,” she said.
