Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has stated that Nigeria has a subsisting Debt Management Strategy which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC ) in June 2013 and due to expire in December 2019. The document, the DMO said, was available its website.
According to the debt management agency, the clarification followed a report that the country lacks a debt management strategy.
However, seven months after the expiration of the DMO’s five-year Third Strategic Plan, the debt office has not been able to produce a new one.
But, in a statement issued by Chinenye Onu , the DMO pointed out that there was a distinction between its Strategic Plan (an institutional plan) and the Public Debt Management Strategy.
According to the agency, the distinction between the Debt Management Strategy and its Strategic Plan is that the plan is a statement of the institution’s goals and objectives as well as the activities that will enable their realisation.
“It covers issues such as human resources, technology, and market development, amongst others. This contrasts very sharply with the Public Debt Management Strategy which is entirely about the strategies for managing the public debt to ensure that borrowing is prudent and the public debt is sustainable,” the DMO said.
“Furthermore, the public should be assured that the strategy is being implemented in full.
“Preparation of a new strategic plan that will deliver a new, robust and all-encompassing strategy is at the final stage. A robust strategic plan became necessary due to developments in the macro-economy, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan(ERGP) and the need to come up with creative ways to fund the government in the face of lower revenues.
“Thus, a new strategic plan for the DMO had to be prepared in a holistic manner to incorporate these developments and expectations. The old pattern of preparing the strategic plan would have been grossly inadequate,” the DMO said.
Findings by THISDAY had shown that since the debt office’s 2013 to 2017 strategic plan expired last December it has not been able to develop another one.
Section 6(c) of the DMO Establishment Act 2003 states that the agency must, “prepare and implement a plan for the efficient management of Nigerian’s external and domestic debt obligations at sustainable levels compatible with desired economic activities for growth and development; and participate in negotiations aimed at realising those objectives.â€
Owing to its very important role in the economy, the DMO, since inception, has always operated with a strategic plan. Its last strategic plan that expired last December, was the third since the creation of the agency that manages the country’s debts by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.