Group Condemns FG’s Borrowing, Urges NASS to Investigate Recovered Looted Funds

Uchechukwu Nnaike

The convener of the Youth Arise Movement, Comrade Ademola Babatunde, has called on the National Assembly to halt the president’s request for external loan approval, launch an independent investigation into the recovered looted funds and assets, and confirm the exact level of the pension liability and how it can be paid from the recovered looted funds and assets.
As the representatives of the people, he said the National Assembly should also ensure that funds approved and disbursed for developmental project are utilized for the precise purpose and
not embezzled.
Babatunde was reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s recent request to the National Assembly for approval for external loan to the tune of $21,543,647,912, EUR 2,193,856,324.54, Japanese Yen 15 billion, EUR 65 million grant.
The president also sought the approval of the National Assembly to issue government bonds in the domestic market to the tune of N757 billion to settle accumulated pension arrears.
Tinubu reportedly stated that the loan was necessary to finance critical sector of the economy, including agriculture, education, infrastructure, security among others.
Meanwhile, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, was said to have disclosed that looted funds totaling $967.5 billion and N277 billion were recovered in cash and assets by anti-graft agencies in 2024 alone.
The minister added that the recovered funds were invested in conditional cash transfer and partly to fund critical infrastructure development.
In a statement, Babatunde, who decried the federal government’s mindless borrowing, said if the president ‘s approval is granted by the National Assembly, the country’s total debt will rise to over N180 trillion. “Economic experts have warned about the rising debt profile of the country and the dire consequences on the economy,” he said.
While wondering why the government that claimed to have recovered huge sum of monies and assets would quickly return to borrowing, he advised the National Assembly against approving the president’s loan request.
“It is crystal clear that the amount of monies said to have been recovered by the anti-graft agencies in 2024 alone far exceed the amount the government is seeking approval to borrow. The monies claimed to have been utilized by the federal government for developmental project ought to be visible for the masses. Sadly, our roads are death-traps, our hospitals are in comatose, our education is in intensive care grasping for breath, insecurity is worsening, our youths are unemployed, yet our debt keeps rising astronomically,” Babatunde said.
He called on the National Assembly to launch an investigation into the matter and call the federal government to account for the recovered looted funds, cross check the revenue accrued, review the books of the federal government with respect to the disbursement and administration of monies appropriated by the National Assembly in line with Section 88(1)(a)(ii) and (2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
He also called for the establishment of ‘The Presidential Delivery unit’, that will be bestowed with the responsibility to brief the country on the revenue of the government, recovered looted funds, the deployment and administration of same to curtail looting and embezzlement.
“I humbly call on the president to also create a unit with renowned and respected businessmen with years in finance to look into the recovered looted funds and assets, critically appraise same, confirm all the projects the Attorney-General of the Federation stated that the monies were used for and scrutinize the ones they are proposing to do.
“For accountability and transparency purposes, we must critically review our OPEX operating expenses analysis to be able to know what exactly is the need of the people and how best to handle it,” he said.