The House of Representatives is considering a bill to alter the 1999 Constitution for the creation of a special account into which all borrowed fund credits and grants to the Federal Government shall be paid.
The bill, currently before the Committee on Constitution Review, was sponsored by the member representing Darazo/Ganjuwa Federal Constituency, Bauchi State, Mansur Soro.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH on the rationale for the bill, Soro said the bill was to encourage greater transparency in the utilisation of borrowed funds by dedicating a special account for it, and have full disclosure on the utilisation of the funds.
He noted that having borrowed funds, grants and Internally Generated Revenue housed in the same account made monitoring of utilisation of loans difficult.
The lawmaker said, “Having both the IGR and borrowed funds in a single account makes tracking of the funds difficult and less transparent. We need to be more transparent and accountable to the people. If we cannot effectively track the movement and use of loans, many questions are begging for answers.
“The bill seeks to separate the two (borrowed funds and IGR) and provide for the publishing of periodic reports on the utilisation.
“Let me add that the bill is coming at a time of increased Federal Government borrowing with national debt profile now put at more than N134tn.”
Similarly, Moro, in a bill co-sponsored by the member representing Ifo/Ewekoro Federal Constituency, Ogun State, Isiaka Ibrahim, also want the National Sovereign Investment Authority and the abolition of the Excess Crude Account to be strengthened.
Speaking on the proposed legislation, the Bauchi lawmaker said, “The bill seeks to amend the Constitution to empower the NSIA to invest all excess revenue from the sales of hydrocarbons.
“It seeks to abrogate the ECA and empower the NSIA to manage the excess revenue from the sales of hydrocarbons.
“The current system which sees the Federal Government save money in the ECA only to use the money belonging to the three tiers of government for procuring arms should be discouraged,” stressing that” If we fail to adequately save for the rainy day, posterity will not be kind to us.”
Justifying the need to support the constitutional amendment proposal, the PDP chieftain added, “The excess revenue should rather go to NSIA for investment on behalf of the federation with both the Federal Government and sub-nationals as investors.”
However, Soro cautioned the Federal Government against reckless borrowing, saying, “We should only take loans when and where it’s absolutely necessary. We are already running into a finanfial crisis and this is the time to apply the brakes.”
To check the frequent resort to borrowing, Soro called on the President Bola Tinubu-led government to block revenue leakages and curb corruption in public expenditure.
