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Lagos – Human Rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), has warned the Federal Government against obtaining loan from the World Bank to finance the 2016 budget, reports Punch
Falana, in a statement issued on Sunday in Lagos, maintained that hapless Nigerians should not be made to pay for the gross mismanagement of the national economy by the federal government and the profligacy of the pampered members of the ruling class.
The lawyer urged the Federal Government to drop its proposition to obtain World Bank loan, noting that it required the endorsement of the International Monetary Fund, which he said, usually imposed stringent conditions on borrowing countries.
The Federal Government had disclosed plan to borrow $2.5bn from the World Bank and another $1bn from the African Development Bank.
The former president of the West Africa Bar Association llamented that the debt profile of the country had now grown to $64bn after it took much effort in 2005 for the country to exit the London/Paris Club after struggling to repay a loan of $12.4bn.
Falana urged the Federal Government to make effort to recover the over $66.5bn accruable to it, rather than obtain loan to finance the budget.
