THE Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has raised concern that President Bola Tinubu’s new loan request approval to the National Assembly breaches the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).

The CSJ argued this in a statement released on Friday, May 30, by its Lead Director, Eze Onyekpere.

Tinubu had, on Tuesday, May 27, sought the National Assembly’s approval to borrow foreign loans worth $24.14 billion to finance critical projects across various sectors of the economy, particularly infrastructure, health, education, and water supply.

The loan, if approved, will push Nigeria’s total debt to N183 trillion, The ICIR reported.

In his submission of Friday, the CSJ said, “Our first reaction is a call for careful consideration of all circumstances, possible scenarios and consequences surrounding the proposed loans.

“This can only be done when the request for approval is pitched against extant legal and policy provisions on debt management in Nigeria.

It cited the most relevant law that the request has breached to be the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).

It said the law provides inter alia in section 41 (1) that the framework for debt management during the financial year shall be based on the following rules-

(a) Government at all tiers shall only borrow for capital expenditure and human development, provided that such borrowing shall be on concessional terms with low interest rate and with a reasonably long amortization period subject to the approval of the appropriate legislative body where necessary.

The CSJ cited also that section 44 (1) of FRA states that any Government in the Federation or its agencies and corporations desirous of borrowing shall, specify the purpose for which the borrowing is intended and present a cost-benefit analysis, detailing the economic and social benefits of the purpose to which the intended borrowing is to be applied.

It further cited section 48 (1) to state that ​the Federal Government shall ensure that its fiscal and financial affairs are conducted in a transparent manner and accordingly ensure full and timely disclosure and wide publication of all transactions and decisions involving public revenues and expenditures and their implications for its finances.

It highlighted the following challenges to have arisen from the President’s request for approval in the light of the provisions cited.

“The specific listing of projects to be financed by the loan have not been presented to Nigerians and therefore not in the public domain.

“Flowing from the first challenge, no cost benefit analysis of the projects for which borrowing is sought has been presented to Nigerians. Cost benefit analysis enables informed discourse and review of the propriety of the projects on which the proceeds of the loan will be invested,” CSJ argued.

It noted further that section 48 (1) requires that all the relevant information and facts related to this request for loan approval should be fully and timely disclosed by the executive to Nigerians before any approval is sought or granted by the National Assembly. The required information is not available in hard copy or any electronic portal of the executive or the legislature.

It argued further that in the circumstances, President Tinubu has observed the FRA in breach and consideration of the request by the National Assembly cannot proceed in defiance of the law.

“Considering Nigeria’s bloated public debt which according to the Debt Management Office stood at N144.665 trillion as at December 31 2024 and the very high percentage of retained revenue set aside for debt service over the years, borrowing without public input is a violent disregard to due process and extant law,” CSJ stated.

In light of the foregoing, CSJ demands that the list and schedule of all projects for which the loans are sought, their intended locations and the cost-benefit analysis of specific projects should be published in hard and soft copies and made available to every Nigerian who intends to make an input into the borrowing process.

It said the National Assembly cannot proceed to take such a monumental decision in further approving the bloating of the national debt to over N180 trillion without the input of Nigerians obtained through a public hearing.

“The loan approval process should not be rushed as demanded by the President and accepted by the leadership of the National Assembly who asked the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts to review and report back in two weeks. The review should hear and consider the input of a broad spectrum of Nigerians before approval or rejection.

“Approval should not be on a blanket basis but on a project-by-project consideration,” the CSJ added in its demand.