$29.96 loan: National Assembly’s position stands, says Saraki

President Muhammadu Buhari’s bid to borrow $29.960 billion suffered more setbacks on Thursday as Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki declared that the position of the National Assembly on the matter remained valid and in force.

Saraki disclosed that his recent visits to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa and the meetings between the President and himself had no bearing with the loan request.

The Senate had two weeks ago rejected the presidential request to the senate to approve the loan bid.

Shortly after Senate’s rejection of the request, Saraki had visited the Presidential Villa and met with Buhari many times, a development which prompted speculation that the President might have used the opportunity of those meetings to persuade the Senate President to prevail on other Senators to drop their opposition to the loan request.

But in a press statement on Thursday, Saraki expressed disappointment that his meetings with the President was being misconstrued to mean that the position of the Senate was being compromised.

Signed by the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the statement advised politicians and the media to avoid making what it called “empty speculations about his recent visits to the Presidential Villa and linking such visits to the request by the Buhari administration for approval of the National Assembly to get $29.9bn loan from foreign sources”

Saraki noted that the comments by some politicians on the loan issue without any factual basis was “unfortunate”.

“Like I once told the media, these politically-motivated commentaries are trivialising a serious national issue and presenting it as if it is a personal matter that can be decided at meetings between Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari”, he stated.

“The National Assembly which I head as Senate President has taken a position on the issue as required of it by the laws of the land and legislative conventions. At every point, the present National Assembly will make decisions based on national interest and we have vowed that we will always act in the interest of our people. That is why despite the fact that members belong to different parties, when national issues come to the floor we forget about party affiliations and act as Nigerians elected to protect the interest of Nigeria.”

The Senate President continued: “A visit to the Presidency by the Senate President is a normal thing because we need to consult, discuss, exchange ideas and make suggestions to each other from time to time. More importantly, at this time, when the nation is facing economic crisis, there is need for frequent engagements by the Presidency and the National Assembly.

“It is in fact very unfortunate that these empty speculations by the media are now forming the basis for commentaries by some politicians who are in a position to be better informed. Politicians should stop playing to the gallery or drawing political capital from all issues. When serious national issues are on ground, we should refrain from making statements based on mere sentiments. Similarly, the media should exercise restraint in their reportage and commentaries in order to properly serve our people.

“At a time when we are about to prepare a budget which is aimed at responding to the current recession and our plan is to ensure all issues concerning the budget are ironed out before the budget comes to the floor so that we will have a less tedious process than that of last year, the media should be ready to witness more of these engagements between the Presidency and the National Assembly”, Saraki stated.

Just on Wednesday, Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, urged Saraki not to backpedal on Senate’s rejection of the plan by the President to obtain a $29.96 billion foreign loan.

He said the loan would further ruin the country’s economy. In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose asked:

“What is the economic sense in taking over N12 trillion loan so as to be able to spend more money during the economic recession? How can a nation be proposing to spend more money when its income has reduced considerably?

“Yes, it is being argued that nations in [a] recession must spend to get out of it, but in the case of Nigeria, how do we pay back when as at today, 30 per cent of our income is being used to service debt?”

The statement continued: “When the Senate unanimously threw out President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for the loan, many Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief and hailed the legislators.

According to Fayose, the “unfolding events in the last few days suggest a dangerous alliance between the presidency and the Senate President to ensure the approval of the loan at all cost.

“Feelers getting to the public suggest that the ongoing Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) trial of Saraki is being used as blackmail to get him to back the $29.96 billion loan.

“Instead of collaborating with the presidency to plunge Nigerians into the bondage of debt, Saraki should pitch his tent with the masses.”