By Aloy Ejilmakor (Esq.) – Guest Writer
Just before the COVID Pandemic struck, Nigeria was on the verge of taking an almost $23 Billion from a complex mix of foreign lenders led by China. It was not complex by accident but by design and deception. Nigeria’s rogue rulers wanted the loan to be more acceptable to gullible Nigerians by tagging along respected international financial institutions like IMF and AfDB to a humongous Chinese loan that carried all the usual elements of corruption and usury that have many wise nations wary of Chinese loans.
It’s noteworthy that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was on the frontline of rallying a groundswell of opposition to the loan, especially because of its proposed expenditure plan that excluded the Southeast part of Nigeria – in flagrant breach of Nigeria’s Constitution. We were concerned that any foreign loan obtained in breach of the organic law of Nigeria would provoke a political/legal backlash that will complicate its repayment. And with the COVID pandemic contemporaneously diverting the attention of the world (including China), the loan seems to be on hold for now. That is well and good.
But so soon after, Nigeria is at it again. This time, there are credible reports that it wants to take another loan from the IMF & AfDB. This is after the $2.2B it borrowed from the World Bank in February this year, which Nigeria falsely claimed was for ‘immunization and job creation’, when in fact the money was shared out to Buhari’s cronies in the Muslim North of Nigeria, including those that promote and enable Islamic terrorism against Christians, stretching from the Maghreb to the Gulf of Guinea.
So, now that Buhari’s ruling cabal wants to borrow another $3.4B from IMF, $2.5Billion from World Bank and $1Billion from African Development Bank, should it be allowed to do so when we know very well that previous loans were grossly looted and otherwise spent in a manner that breached the Nigerian constitutional provisions on revenue allocation between the Central and State governments on the one hand, and the geopolitical regions of Nigeria, on the other. True to character, the treasonous Cabal ruling Nigeria in Buhari’s name has engaged in another brazen act of deception by falsely claiming that the new loans will be used to “fight COVID-19, and to assist the poor and small businesses”.
Who takes loans to fight COVID? You don’t need loans to fight a pandemic, you instead need aid and global goodwill, and that’s what all countries in need have relied on throughout history. The pandemic is not permanent to the point of requiring loans. And for the vaunted ‘assistance to the poor and small businesses’, Nigerians are well aware that this never happens. The shady Buhari Cabal has zero record of assisting small businesses and the poor. Its embarrassing and laughable distribution of raw cash in the market square, even with VP Osibanjo as the poster boy, was anything but helpful to small businesses. If you are still in doubt, just consider how the Nigerian poor was totally abandoned to untold hardships since the Covid Lockdown began.
So, for a Nigerian State that is verging on a vegetative state, and with all the uncertainties surrounding its presidency and its viability as a nation, foreign lenders will be taking quantum risks with any new loans to Nigeria. This is exacerbated by the rising prospects of breach brought by the significant drop in the price of oil, which in and of itself has made Nigeria’s shady leaders looking for new monies to loot.
Loans are meant to be repaid. The lenders may mean well but Nigeria’s leaders don’t. They won’t pay back these loans and you can take that to the bank.
