Femi Gbajabiamila, the head of the house of representative has written to the Chinese President, Xi Jingpin, in relation to the letter written by Ayo Fayose requesting that China decline Nigeria’s request for a loan.
The letter, made available to Sahara Reporters accused Fayose of lowering the status of the country by referring to Nigeria as a ‘Project’. He also stated that Fayose’s claim that he was representing the Nigerian people was a fallacy.
Gbajabiamila, who said he would not have responded to the governor’s letter but for his responsibility of driving all government business and policies in the House, explained that he wrote to the Chinese leader to set the records straight.
“…I am sure the letter written to you by the governor will probably receive little (if any) attention from your high office, assuming it even gets to you.
“Mr. President, Nigeria as you well know is not a project as erroneously described by the governor, but a nation like all others in the comity of nations.
“It is also a federal republic operating under the principles of administrative and fiscal federalism,” wrote the House Leader.
“The duties and responsibilities of a governor are clearly spelt out in the Nigerian Constitution and they do not include negotiating loans on behalf of the country nor do they extend to foreign affairs or economic diplomacy,” the letter stated.
Mr. Gbajabiamila added that the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution contains the oath of office taken by a state governor on assumption of office and unambiguously states:
“…That I will exercise the authority vested in me as Governor so as not to impede or prejudice the authority lawfully vested in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
He also accused Fayose of going beyond his constitutional mandate and called him a ‘meddlesome interloper’. He explained to the Chinese President that Governor Fayose’s understanding of budgeting at federal level was skimpy at best. He explained that Nigeria has a three- year budget rolling plan captured under a Medium Term Expenditure Framework. “The MTEF 2016- 2018 has a borrowing component in which the legislature approved for the President to incur both domestic and foreign loans for the purposes of infrastructural development and deficit financing.
“This MTEF was passed unanimously by the National Assembly, including the six House members and three senators from Ekiti, the governor’s state.
“I am therefore dismayed, as are many members of the National Assembly, that the governor would claim that the loan sought from your government did not have parliamentary imprimatur.
“It is also a fallacy that the country’s debt is being financed with 25 percent of the Federal Governments annual budget, as there is something in economic and legislative borrowing parlance called nominal debt service where a portion of borrowed monies in this case about 1.3 trillion stays within the country’s financial system.
“Such are the intricacies of national debts, aids and loans,” he added.
Gbajabiamila said he was surprised that the Fayose referred to a $2 billion dollar loan instead of $6 billion dollar investment package, an indication, he said, of Fayose’s insufficient knowledge of the transaction between China and Nigeria.
” The people of Nigeria overwhelmingly elected President Muhammed Buhari to make such strategic decisions for them and on their behalf not any state governor,” said Gbajabiamila
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