says borrowing is a neo-colonialism
The Senator representing Imo West Rochas Okorocha has warned the country to be wary of receiving aid from foreign countries.
The Senator said on Wednesday that such aide can form a neo-colonialism.
Okorocha made the contribution during a motion moved by the Senator representing Kwara Central, Ibrahim Oloriegbe.
The motion was on “the need to make development aid work for Nigerians”.
He lamented that Nigeria has borrowed trillions of naira but has nothing to show for it.
“I call this neo-colonialism. We must be careful how we collect aid before it turns to AIDS. I said this because what we are getting right now in terms of aid, if we go back and see what they have done with it; it is not commensurate with the amount of development,” he said.
“What has come as aid, come in trillions of naira, but we cannot justify anything …to show for it…. This happens in the federal government, state government and even NDDC.
“You see people raise billions of naira and you can’t see N5000 work being done.”
While moving the motion, Oloriegbe said without fundamental reforms, there would be a delay in increasing employment and reducing poverty in the country.
“The actual benefits to the country from these aids is only about 40-45%, with 55-60% being lost to transaction costs, wastage and capital flight back to the donor countries through the implementing contractors,” he said.
“The non-consideration of aids/grants in budgets and appropriation do sometimes result in duplication, wastages and inefficiency in utilisation of scarce resources.”
The House adopted the motion and called on the National Planning Commission to develop a plan that ensures that loans are effectively utilized.
