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Govt May Probe Past Leaders
FROM MARTINS OLOJA, OGHOGHO OBAYUWANA AND MATHIAS OKWE (ABUJA)

THE next stage of the war against corruption may be targeted at past leaders for their complicity in the nation's foreign debt put at $35 billion. Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says taking such officials at both federal and state levels through the rigours of the law is part of Obasanjo administration's anti-corruption campaign.

Nigeria is currently pushing for debt relief from creditor nations even as British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Richard Gozney believes such debts are not sustainable given the strain repayments have had on Nigeria's economy.

Similarly, Canadian High Commissioner David Angell says Nigeria needs conversion of its debts for the nation's social and infrastructural development.

In the interim, support for government campaign for debt cancellation is coming from unlikely quarters - private Nigerians - who are mobilising for a rally in Abuja on October 1 and taking the campaign to the international community.

Members of a non-governmental group, the Individual & Patriotic Alliance Against International Debt (I-PAAID), which began the campaign on a small scale two years ago in Jos, said they were ready to storm the world for the lightening of Nigeria's debt burden.

Last March, the House of Representatives passed a motion, stopping the executive arm from making further servicing payments to the nation's creditors. The lawmakers claimed that the effects of the debt servicing had been quite unwholesome for the economy.

Fielding questions from newsmen in Abuja last week, Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria was not begging the creditor nations for debt relief. Rather, the country was following laid-down principles on how to qualify for debt relief, which principles, she stressed the nation had met.

She said: "There's no question of begging; it doesn't arise. We are not the first countries to get debt relief. Many others had done it and there are very straight laid out rules.

"They have said the rules are as follows: the first and foremost, management of your economy; you have to demonstrate that you are reforming the economy - if it needs to be reformed - that you are managing it well; you have a structured reform programme; you are trying to improve things. And we know that we wanted to do those reforms ourselves."

However, the Minister noted that the creditors, which continuously insist on transparency and accountability in government, were already aware of government's move to bring to book all those responsible for frittering away the huge foreign loans on elephant or non-existent projects.

But she emphasised that the decision to grill the said officials was that of President Obasanjo and the Federal Executive Council.

According to her: "We are already making that argument (to punish government officials who misappropriated or misapplied those funds) and they (creditors) already know. If you look at a book that I worked on, there is a chapter in there that talks about this issue - the debt trap.

"What we are doing right now are in stages. We are concentrating on trying to resolve the issues and clean out our debt; resolving our issues vis-・vis our creditors. That point (on holding officials accountable for misuse of foreign loans) is a valid one but that decision is not an issue of Minister of Finance alone or the Ministry; it's an issue that has to be looked at with the President and the other members of the cabinet.

"I am saying that now, we are concentrating on discussing and clearing up issues with our creditors. They know that the issue of corruption, whether it's within this shore or outside is being taken vigorously. We all have seen the action that has been taken by the President. So, this is part and parcel of that kind of work that's going on, on the anti-corruption."

To Mr Gozney, Nigeria's sovereign debt is not sustainable, as Britain has recognised that.

He said: "You can't sustain and pay the interest of the capital on a sovereign debt that big. We recognise that something has to be done about that debt.

"At the moment, you are paying a billion dollars a year like what happened in 2003; it happened last year, and it's been promised for the budget this year. And the result is that it doesn't quite cover the interest; the debt itself still rises. So that's not sustainable."

Gozney debunked insinuations that the debt forgiveness song was an election gimmick of the Labour Party, which gained an unprecedented third term under Prime Minister Tony Blair at the weekend.

The High Commissioner said: "I think it is unfair for anyone to think that Britain is sympathetic to the Nigerian cause in terms of debt forgiveness because we perhaps want to use it to score political points; electoral votes, isn't it? No, that's not true.

"What is happening goes beyond politics. In fact, you do not play politics of this kind. As far as we are concerned, it is a straight issue. After all, the debts are not necessarily owed to the UK government directly.

What is important here is that something is being done about Nigeria's debt in a way that shows cooperation and the boosting of healthier political and economic relations."

By the reckoning of the Canadian High Commissioner David Angell, "the future of Africa requires a prosperous Nigeria and debt relief has to be part of the mix."

He told The Guardian that debt forgiveness and grants have a synergy, hence his country's newly defined cooperation priorities in Nigeria were meant in part to foster the present administration's reform efforts.

He said: "We are positive that this support that Canada is providing relates directly to the priorities of the government of Nigeria. The government of Nigeria is now being given preference in terms of the level at which it can draw the newly outlined funds than other governments."

The $648 million fund captioned, "Budget 2005 Delivers" for Africa, represents a doubling of Canada's aid to the continent by 2008-2009 from its 2003-2004 level. It includes $100 million assistance for peace and security; $140 million global fund for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; and $42 million polio eradication initiative.

Others are $34 million support for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) as well as the $160 million of the Global Alliance for vaccines and immunisation fund.

Concerned about the crushing effects of the cost of debt servicing on the welfare and wellbeing of even ordinary Nigerians, the I-PAAID has begun mobilisation of Nigerians outside government to take the campaign of debt relief to the doorsteps of creditors abroad.

In an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, observed by the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the leader of I-PAAID, Chief Austen Arah said government crusade alone might not be able to convince the creditor nations.

Arah, assisted by Mallam Ibrahim Suleiman and Kingsley A. Okoruwa disclosed that the campaign they had carried to the grassroots "is fast gaining momentum as more Nigerians are now appreciating the grave implication and consequences that our foreign debt of $34b holds in stock for the nation."

"More and more ordinary Nigerians are outraged at the seeming hopelessness of our foreign debt situation."

He stressed that their action was also predicated on the fact that even "students are beginning to ask questions, the market women too are realising that there is indeed an economic relationship between this mysterious $34b debt and the cost of buying or selling their foodstuff in the local markets."

"The peasant farmers can now see the huge damage that this foreign debt is meting on governments developmental policies for agriculture."

He noted that Nigerians had to be mobilised to shape their destiny through this campaign because "our infrastructure and socio-economic wellbeing is at a complete standstill primarily because over $2 billion is spent each year on debt servicing alone."

The group praised the focused campaign of the

President Obasanjo and the Economic Team led by the Finance Minister.

According to Arah, "never in the history of this country have we witnessed such steadfast and resolute struggle on the part of
government on any issue of national interest; and never such uncooperative attitude from the international community."

He said they would begin the campaign systematically at home this way: "We intend to join forces with our NGOs, the NLC, student unions, market women associations, performers and musicians, religious organisations, etc., to stage a mass youth rally come October 1, 2005, at the nation's capital to lend support to this campaign on the home front.

"In addition, we shall mobilise the religious organisations to embark on a one-day prayer and fasting before the rally, all with the theme:

'Humanity, Love and Forgiveness'."

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