……CSO charges 10th NASS on Fiscal Responsibility
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) led by OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative working under the aegis of Growth Initiatives for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) have described Nigeria’s N87 Trillion public debt as ourageous which is having a negative impact on the nation’s economic wellbeing.
They made the assertion in a statement on signed by its Project Manager, Regina Udo on Friday and called on the 10th National Assembly to pass the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007 (amendment) Bill to bring sanity to the fiscal space and curb the rising public debt in the country.
According to the CSOs, Nigeria’s public debt profile calls for drastic reforms in the countries public finance management system.
They stated, “It begs for belief that Nigeria parades a public debt of over N87 trillion consisting of local and foreign loans incurred by the federal and state governments, according to latest figures released by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
“And if something urgent is not done, the future will only become gloomier and generations to come will come down heavily on today’s actors, cheerleaders and bystanders alike”.
They further lamented that the huge public debt profile has been encouraged by a weak revenue mobilisation, poor remittance culture, and corruption in public expenditure.
The statement said citizens and stakeholders across public, private and non-governmental sectors will be mobilised to address the failing fiscal health of the nation.
The CSOs called on the federal and state governments to institute urgent measures to cut waste, inefficiencies and corruption to save the country from collapse.
They added that, the GIFT Project will also advocate for implementing the FRA 2007 Act at the national and sub-national levels, especially as it relates to debt management and revenue remittances to government coffers.
They added, “Building on some of the gains recorded in the first year of implementation which included providing technical support on public projects monitoring and evaluation through the ConsTrack civic technology tool built and deployed by OrderPaper.
“To achieve the advocacy goal of entrenching fiscal responsibility in the public sphere, the GIFT project would be implementing several activities which are designed to impact change by working with national assembly to ensure passage of the FRA amendment bill and enforce extant provisions relating to debt and borrowing by the states and federal governments.
“We would also embark on intensive citizen engagement activities to sensitise the general public on the need to demand transparency and accountability from the government, especially as regards revenue generation and public expenditure because by doing so, we can collectively address the rampaging effects of waste and corruption in public finance”.
