IT IS TIME TO REMOVE THE YOKE FROM THE NECK OF OSTRICHES AND GIVE OUR SOCIETY A BURST OF LIFE:
Written by Aliyu Ahmed
Let us not straightjacket through needless conditionality. Because until when corrupt leaders forgo their cannibal mentality, then corruption will take a back seat.
Debt has become a major cross-sectoral issue. At the moment, The atmosphere is thick with debt songs incurred by the previous Chanchaga Local Government Council Government (2019-2023).
There are few issues that have captured the airwaves of Chanchaga Local Government Council recently, in respect to the Court ordering the Current Council Government to pay/settle a Contractor for the debt incurred by the previous Council Government sequel to the bogus contract awarded for the purchase of Transformers by the previous Council administration.
I have no quarrel, issues with government borrowing. The American government borrows, the Canadian government borrows, the United Kingdom borrows, France borrows money from the World Bank and such other institutions and Nigeria is no exception.
What I quarrel with is if the money is not used for a purpose and the infrastructure to be developed across the council.
Even advanced nations borrow to develop their infrastructure but the reason is simple: No nation borrows endlessly; ostensibly to forestall the far-reaching negative implications that excessive borrowing has on the economies of nations.
It must be said that corruption in Chanchaga Local Government Council is a by product of the general rut that has beset the council through more than a decade as well as years of short-sighted Council governments. That rut and decay of the erstwhile Council Government (2019-2022) has been oiled by a voodoo economic system whereby their efforts were focused on expending resources, and scant attention is paid to income generation, environmental protection, or the assurance of accountability and other basics.
Many agree that the fight against corruption is long overdue, and that although there are shortcomings in the warfare, it is still better than nothing. It is also better now than later.
How did the current Chanchaga council Government fell into the present debt trap incurred by the previous administration??? Often loans and resources were obtained for white-elephant projects sashayed straight from creditors into the private bank accounts of the previous number one citizen of the Council and his cohorts. In some cases the wealth of an African leader equates to his country’s level of indebtedness. As the stolen funds for contracts are stashed away, the poor and the successive Government of Rt. Hon. Aminu Yakubu Ladan bear the brunt of the profligacy of the preceding Government.
Where funds are not simply stolen, they are inefficiently managed. The mounting debts have been veritable tools of economic and political subjugation rendering Chanchaga into comatose. Demanding repayment from the previous (Vampire Leader and his coven) government of the bogus Contracts awarded for the purchase of stepdown Transformers is like demanding blood from a corpse; the debts are generally odious, unpayable, and iniquitous.
It is often argued that canceling the debts without the offender being docked is tantamount to giving the offender a pat on the back. In other words, debt cancellation is seen as an immoral act. But what is it that’s immoral: the debt or its cancellation???
A loan that has been repaid several times over through debt servicing and yet remains unpaid is an immoral debt. It is indeed odious and should be repudiated.
