On the World Bank Loan

The newly approved world bank loan of $2.25 billion for Nigeria must be judiciously expended. I think concentration should be on power, capital for small business and agriculture. This loan is a burden on our future.

We must take it and use it well or else we only deepen our poverty when we spend it wastefully. Nigeria should plan to emerge from this quagmire by using the loans to develop the economy.

When the economy is strong, people can live happier lives and we can systematically repay the loan. President Tinubu should know what to do with the money. He is a manager of not only the present but also the future.

The bank said in a statement late Thursday that the bulk of the loan — $1.5 billion — will help protect millions who have faced growing poverty since a year ago when President Bola Tinubu came to power and took drastic steps to fix the country’s ailing economy.

The remaining $750 million, the bank said, will support tax reforms and revenue and safeguard oil revenues threatened with limited production caused by chronic theft.

President Tinubu plans to spend the bulk of the money by giving it to welfarist schemes. This is a wrong way to go about it. Nigeria first needs to have power so that business and life can thrive. Nigerians then need capital so that they can start businesses. Nigeria needs cheap food so we need to input in agriculture so that prices of food can crash.

When there is power, there is small business and employment and there is food, the rest of the poverty becomes manageable if any.

I think the plan to give out monies will only make the money go down the drain. We cannot afford to lose these funds as we will still pay them back.

President Olusegun Obasanjo made a similar mistake when he put a lot of money into debt repayment. General Yakubu Gowon made a similar mistake when he used funds to pay excess salaries for three months upfront. President Buhari made a similar mistake when he expended funds on the School Feeding programme that gulped a lot with nothing to show for it.

Nigeria's economy can be likened to a building with weak foundation. You cannot build more pillars on a weak foundation and expect to raise the building higher. Collapse is a matter of time. What our economy needs is at the foundation level.

Koye-Ladele Mofehintoluwa,
Writer,
Lawyer
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