Nation
Nigeria’s External Debt Hits $5bn
Nigeria’s external debt was five billion dollars (about N750 billion) at the end of 2009, World Bank Managing Director, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.
Okonjo-Iweala said the Federal Government also carried a domestic debt burden of N3.23 trillion(21.8 billion dollars) during the period.
The former Nigerian finance minister made the information known at a lecture on the 24th and 25th convocation ceremony of the University of Calabar, on Thursday.
She said Nigeria’s external debt profile was 3.5 billion dollars in 2006 and attributed the rise in external debt to “the pace of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.
“In April 2006, Nigeria paid off the last instalment due on its debt settlement agreement with the Paris Club, thereby erasing 30 billion dollars in external debt and reducing government external debt to 3.5 billion dollars.”
Similarly, the former finance minister said the current Federal Government’s domestic debt virtually doubled from about N1.7 trillion (13.6 billion dollars) at the end of 2006.
She said the country’s debt portfolio was apprehensive, adding that the situation was worsened by the realisation that about 20 per cent of the domestic indebtedness was held by foreigners.
For the internal debt, she said one of the bad sides was that banks and other financial intermediaries would prefer to invest in “safe” government bonds than make “risky” loans available to the corporate sector.
She deplored the government’s practice of sharing the Excess Crude proceeds, saying the action negated the essence of the establishment of the account.
She expressed regret that a total of 20.1billion dollars which was available in the Excess Crude Account at the end of 2008 had, by the end of 2009, dropped to 7.8 billion dollars.
Okonjo-Iweala described the sharing habit as reckless and advocated the investment of the excess crude proceeds in the agriculture and power sectors to grow the economy.
She noted that some states and even the Federal Government could not account for expenditure of the funds and urged the public to strive always to be abreast with government expenditure.
”You must know how much the states get every month and how they spend it,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
She urged students to take up the challenge and begin to enquire into government income and expenditure as it was the right of every citizen to know everything about government.
Nation
Council Boss Impeached 48 Hours To LG Polls In Katsina
The Chairman of Malumfashi Local Government Council of Katsina State, Maharazu Dayi, has been impeached.
Maharazu Dayi was impeached yesterday by 11 out of 12 councillors, barely two days before the local government elections in the State.
The councillors reportedly took action following allegations of misconduct and poor governance against the chairman after a dispute over the distribution of the council’s Paris Club funds.
The development has sent shock waves across the local government area, especially as the impeached chairman is among those who failed to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest in the forthcoming election.
Nation
Association Tasks Fubara On Rumuwoji Market Phase Three
The Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, has urged the state government to utilise the available spaces within the area to build phase 3 of the Rumuwoji Market in order to solve the ever increasing needs of traders.
The association, which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also described as a welcomed development the decision by the state Governor to open the phase 2 of the market for business.
According to the association, “We consider it as an answer to the various cries of the people, because he is a man on a mission who is out to place the interest of Rivers people first. It is a dream come true for the first time for the market to be dully allocated and open for business”
Chairman of the association, Hon Godspower Wobo, who briefed the press shortly after a meeting of the association in Port Harcourt, also urged the public to disregard the activities of some persons whose stock in trade is to cause disaffection in the market.
He said the attention of the association was drawn to the activities of some strange fellows who went about misforming the people about situation in the market, stressing that apart from his association, no other group exists in the market except subdiary unions.
Wobo also tasked the reallocation committee to tread with caution so as to avoid being deceived by any group.
According to him, time has come for the state government to engage in robust discussion with aggrieved shop owners who went to court and those who paid monies to the state coffers and issued with allocation certificates for the overall interest of peace.
He also advised the public to deal directly with his association, stressing that the meeting was to review activities for the last year as well as unveil their new Constitution.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the association, Deacon Kenneth Eze urged the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to open the phase 2 of the market, as it is long overdue.
Eze who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association also urged the public to do business with only the Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association as it is the only union recognised by the traders.
Nation
AfDB President Denies 2027 Presidential Ambition
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has debunked reports linking him with the race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2027.
Reacting to the report on his X handle yesterday, following a recent interview with Arise TV, the AfDB boss said his quotes were misrepresented and misinterpreted in several Nigerian media reports.
However, the AfDB president denied the media reports, stating that he never said that he wanted to contest for President.
“A segment of my recent interview on @Arise TV has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, “I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.”
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria,” Adesina said.
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