Nine days after he wrote the Nigerian government
advising against the plan to secure a $3.5 billion loan,
Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, has said he would
commence legal proceedings against the government.
Mr. Falana had, in a letter dated February 5, urged the
Finance Ministry to jettison its plan to secure a $3.5
billion (about N700 billion) loan from the World Bank
and the African Development Bank.
In a statement on Sunday, the lawyer said he had not
received any response from the ministry.
“Since you have not deemed it fit to react to the serious
issues raised in the letter, kindly be informed that we
shall commence legal proceedings not later than
February 29, 2015, with a view to compelling the Federal
Government to recover the said loans, royalties, levies,
and other recoverable revenues of not less than $66.5
billion,” Mr. Falana said.
In a letter to the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Falana had said
instead of taking the loan, the government should direct
the anti-graft agencies to recover all loans and revenues
accruable to it.
“From the information at our disposal, the federal
government is owed not less than $66.5 billion (about
N13.3 trillion) which ought to be recovered without any
further delay,” Mr. Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria,
stated in the letter dated February 5.
According to Mr. Falana, the five cycles of independent
audit reports compiled by the National Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, showed
potential recoverable revenues of not less than $20.2
billion.
“The potential recoverable revenues are said to have
arisen from ‘underpayment/under-assessment of taxes,
royalties, levies and rents.’
“If you require more information in respect of this
matter you may wish to contact your colleague, Mrs.
Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of State for Budget and
National Planning. In her capacity as the immediate past
Executive Secretary of NEITI she had called on the
federal government to recover the said sum of $20.2
billion.”
Mr. Falana said the Central Bank of Nigeria, in 2006,
apportioned $7 billion out of the nation’s external
reserves to 14 Nigerian banks to “manage.”
“In addition, following the crisis of global capitalism,
which occurred in 2008, the Central Bank of Nigeria gave
a bailout of $4 billion (N600 billion) to the commercial
banks in the country.
“The CBN has not deemed it fit to ask for the refund of
the total sum of $11 billion injected into the banking
system in the space of two years.”
Mr. Falana also said the Presidency, in September last
year, announced the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation’s commencement of recovering of $9.6
billion in over-deducted tax benefits from joint venture
partners on major capital projects and oil swap
contracts.
Weeks ago, Mr. Falana continued, Abubakar Malami, the
Attorney General of the Federation, disclosed that the
federal government had concluded arrangements to
recover an additional $750 million from the “Abacha
loot.”
“In the ongoing Senate Probe into the affairs of the
Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), it
has been revealed that the corporation had accumulated
over $25 billion (about N5 trillion) debts as against its
Act which put the debt ceiling at N800 billion,” said Mr.
Falana.
“According to Mr. Ahmed Kuru, the Managing Director of
AMCON, ‘most of the debtors of AMCON are big men
who fly in private jets, live in big mansions and they
have taken money and they are not paying back.’
“From the foregoing, you will agree with us that the
hapless Nigerian people should not be made to pay for
the gross mismanagement of the national economy by
the federal government and the profligacy of the
pampered members of the ruling class.
“While acknowledging the concerted efforts to recover
the looted wealth of the nation through the anti-graft
agencies and the Arms Procurement Panel, the Buhari
administration should embark on the immediate recovery
of the aforesaid loans and accrued revenues with a view
to financing the 2016 budget and the infrastructural
development of the nation.”
Source: www.thenigerialawyer.com
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