Ugandan Lawmakers Seek Nigeria’s Expertise on Sustainable Borrowing, Public Funds

* NILDS DG urges scrutiny of loans, debt, guarantees 

* As Uganda targets 6.5–7% growth in 2026

…Lawmakers say Africa must learn from its own successes, mistakes rather than rely on Europe

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Members of Uganda’s Parliamentary Committee on National Economy have arrived in Nigeria to deepen their capacity to scrutinise government borrowing, loan guarantees and public expenditure, with the delegation saying Nigeria’s democratic experience offers valuable lessons for African countries.

The Ugandan lawmakers made the disclosure on Monday in Abuja at the opening of a five-day training and induction workshop organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) for members and technical staff of the Committee on National Economy of the Parliament of Uganda.

Speaking at the event, the Team Lead of the Ugandan delegation, Hon. Avur Jane Pacuto, said the lawmakers deliberately chose Nigeria as a destination for parliamentary learning because of what she described as the country’s growing democratic experience.

Pacuto, a three-term member of the Ugandan Parliament, said African countries should increasingly draw lessons from one another instead of depending exclusively on experiences from Europe.

She said: “We are here today as leaders from Uganda to learn and share from you, being a sister country in the Commonwealth.

“Because Nigeria is increasingly becoming very democratic, we thought there was no better place than Nigeria to come to.”

She said the delegation was particularly interested in learning how governments could manage borrowing responsibly and ensure that borrowed resources were deployed for the benefit of citizens.

According to her, Uganda’s Committee on National Economy has the responsibility of reviewing, assessing and scrutinising government borrowing, grants and guarantees, making the training particularly relevant to its parliamentary mandate.

“We are here to learn more about how borrowed resources should be used for the common good of our citizens, being cognisant of the fact that there are times where there are wastages and leakages in public funds,” Pacuto said.

The Ugandan lawmaker said the committee also sought to understand how African governments could borrow sustainably amid changing global economic conditions, particularly fluctuations in exchange rates.

She explained that the visit was not the first time Ugandan parliamentarians had participated in programmes at NILDS, adding that the delegation expected to gain fresh insights into Nigeria’s economic management and institutional practices.

Pacuto said the lawmakers were also interested in Nigeria’s cultural diversity and other areas of institutional experience, while inviting Nigerian legislators and NILDS officials to Uganda for further engagements and experience-sharing.

Earlier, the NILDS Director-General, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, said effective parliamentary performance went beyond lawmaking to include rigorous oversight, public finance scrutiny and accountability in the management of national resources.

Sulaiman said Uganda’s projected economic growth of between 6.5 and seven per cent in 2026 offered encouraging prospects but cautioned that economic expansion alone could not guarantee inclusive and sustainable development.

He identified sound public financial management, fiscal discipline, debt sustainability, efficient public expenditure and productive development investments as critical determinants of whether economic growth would translate into improved welfare for citizens.

The NILDS DG said the Committee on National Economy occupied a strategic position in Uganda’s economic governance framework because of its responsibilities for scrutinising national loans and loan guarantees, public financial aggregates, government debt and strategies for improving the national economy.

He urged the lawmakers and their technical advisers to go beyond examining figures contained in loan proposals and interrogate the purpose, cost, expected returns and sustainability of government borrowing.

Sulaiman said legislators should determine whether loan-financed projects were delivering the outcomes for which they were approved and whether borrowed resources were advancing Uganda’s long-term development priorities.

“Questions surrounding sovereign borrowing, debt sustainability, loan guarantees and externally financed projects involve complex economic, financial and legal considerations,” he said.

He stressed that parliamentary oversight should be driven by evidence, rather than either automatic opposition to government proposals or uncritical approval of them.

“Effective oversight is about asking the right questions, demanding credible evidence, identifying risks, assessing alternatives and ensuring that public resources are deployed in accordance with the national interest,” Sulaiman said.

He said the rapidly changing global environment had made continuous parliamentary capacity development increasingly important, citing geopolitical tensions, changing patterns of global trade and investment, technological disruption, climate-related vulnerabilities, commodity-price fluctuations and evolving international financial conditions.

The NILDS boss also highlighted the African Continental Free Trade Area and efforts to strengthen regional economic integration as developments requiring African legislatures to build stronger institutional and technical capacity.

According to him, African economies must develop resilience against external shocks while positioning themselves to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Sulaiman said modern parliaments needed legislators and technical staff capable of analysing complex economic data, fiscal projections, debt instruments, public expenditure frameworks and development-financing arrangements.

He therefore called for continuous training and retraining of parliamentary professionals, noting that economic conditions, government policies, financial instruments and sources of public financing were constantly changing.

The NILDS DG said the institute’s engagement with the Ugandan Parliament was not intended to present Nigeria’s experience as a model to be copied wholesale.

Rather, he said, the programme was designed to facilitate comparative learning, critical reflection and the adaptation of useful practices to Uganda’s institutional and national circumstances.

He listed the expected outcomes of the training to include stronger capacity to analyse macroeconomic and fiscal developments, and scrutinising sovereign borrowing and loan guarantees.

He also listed other benefits to include assessment of debt sustainability, monitor externally financed projects, review fiscal responsibility and budget performance, conduct evidence-based oversight and produce stronger committee reports and recommendations.

Sulaiman added that Nigeria and Uganda, despite operating in different economic and institutional environments, shared common challenges relating to fiscal sustainability, public borrowing, debt management, revenue mobilisation, budget implementation and parliamentary oversight.

He said the workshop would therefore strengthen cooperation between the two countries and contribute to improved legislative oversight of public resources.

Sulaiman said Uganda’s growth prospects could only be sustained through prudent economic policies, responsible borrowing, productive investment and strong institutions of accountability.

“A Parliament that learns continuously is better positioned to legislate effectively, oversee responsibly and represent its citizens meaningfully,” he said.