Falana advises FG against borrowing $29bn

_{… As Omatseye, CDHR, SERAP insists on upholding rule of law}

_{Human right activist and former president of Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) Mr Femi Falana has advised the Federal Government not to go ahead with the proposed borrowing of 29 billion dollar loan from the World Bank.} 

_{Responding to President Muhammadu Buhari’s request to the National Assembly to approve external borrowing plan of $29.960 billion to execute key infrastructural projects across the country between 2016 and 2018, Falana stated this over the weekend at the 2016 Annual General Conference of CDHR held at MAN House in Ikeja.}

_{He said that instead of borrowing such huge amount of money and putting the future of the younger generation in jeopardy, the Federal Government should source the funds internally from the money of recovered loot and others.}

_{According to him, it is not wise to borrow such a huge amount at such a time. He said, “My advice is we do not need to do this at such a period in our economy. What about the millions of the recovered loots from those who stole our money, our money that are in the hands of those who decided to steal from the treasury?}

_{“I have a report from Nigeria Extractive Transparency Initiative (NEITI) that oil companies and NNPC owe the Federal Government a joint $20.2 billion. All these should be recovered and be used for these projects instead of putting the destiny of the younger generation and those to come in jeopardy as a result of the huge national debt it will bring.”}          

_{Editorial board of The Nation Newspapers, Sam Omatseye in his speech on “The Concept of the Rule of Law and The Notion of Justice For The Survival of The Nigerian State”, said that the law is as important as the gravitas of the leadership and how they carry the mass of the people on the wave of their moral high values.}

_{He added that we should abide by the rule of law whether you are the president or judge or the legislature but we need to get a good judge, a good lawyer and the leadership to forge ahead as a law-abiding nation.}

_{Mr Adetokunbo Mumini, Executive director of the Society Economic Rights And Accountability Project, (SERAP) said it was important for our present democracy to build strong institutions to combat corruption.}