Chairman Senate Committee on local and foreign debts, Senator Shehu Sani, has said he cannot be stampeded into approving the $350 million World Bank loan request by the Kaduna State Government.
He said details of the loan request must be scrutinized thoroughly and due process fully complied with before a decision would be taken on the loan.
Senator Sani who was at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat Kaduna on a courtesy visit on Monday, said while answering questions from newsmen that his committee has to scrutinize every detail of the loan request to see if there’s justification for it before it will be approved.
“If we’re not convinced it will be used judiciously it will not be passed,” he said.
Senator Sani said reports suggesting he is the one deliberately frustrating the passage of the loan is not correct as he said a senator cannot stop a parliamentary process as it has to be tabled before the plenary.
He explained that his committee had received similar requests from 22 states and were subjected to the same process adding that requests from nine states are currently pending including that of Kaduna with some requesting for as low as $35 million while that of Kaduna is $350 million.
He said, “As chairman of the committee on local and foreign debts we must do our job and no politics or protest will affect our decision to approve or not, we are guided by law.
“Nobody can compel me to do the wrong thing, all requests must follow due process, it is not enough to say what you are doing. What is the debt profile of the state? If you get it will you able to pay salaries and contractors?
Senator Sani said he is concerned by the magnitude of the loan and the fact that the period of payment would be spread over four decades and stressed that he sees it as a duty to ensure that next generations of Nigerian don’t inherit a debt which they cannot pay.
He said, “We must leave behind commensurate projects to justify the loan, it is not a small amount of money. The next generations will ask questions and it is the person who approves the money whose name would be seen. The contractor name would not be there and the person who is borrowing his name will not be seen but that of the one who approved. I have a duty to ensure things are done rightly and ensure things are done rightly.
The senator who represents Kaduna Central senatorial zone said he is aware protests are being organized to stampede him into approving the loan but said that will not work as it has to be subjected through the necessary processes.
“It’s like you write an exam and the teacher is with the script then you organize protesters to say you have passed,” he said.
