By George Mgbekele <\/p>\n
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) says Nigeria\u2019s growing reliance on oil-backed borrowing amounts to a dangerous mortgaging of the country\u2019s economic future and raises serious questions about fiscal responsibility, transparency and intergenerational justice.<\/p>\n
HURIWA says the reported commitment of about 340 million barrels of future crude production to service three oil-backed loans valued at approximately \u20a611.2tn is deeply troubling and demands urgent public scrutiny.
\nThe organisation says the practice of borrowing today and repaying with tomorrow\u2019s crude resources must not become a convenient way for successive governments to escape the consequences of poor fiscal management.
\nHURIWA National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, said the development was comparable to a father selling off his most valuable assets, spending the proceeds recklessly and leaving his children with little or nothing to inherit.
\n\u201cThis is the danger Nigerians must confront.
\n\u201cA father who sells the family\u2019s prized assets to finance an extravagant lifestyle may enjoy temporary relief, but he leaves his children poorer and without an inheritance.
\n\u201cThe same principle applies when a government commits hundreds of millions of barrels of future crude simply to meet present financial pressures without demonstrating clearly what Nigerians are gaining in return.
\n\u201cBorrowing against future oil production is not automatically illegal or inherently wrong. But when the scale becomes this enormous, Nigerians have every right to demand to know whether the country is receiving fair value and what future generations are being asked to surrender.\u201d
\nHURIWA says crude oil remains a finite and wasting national resource, making every barrel committed to debt repayment an economic asset that cannot be recovered once produced and delivered.
\nThe organisation says the government must therefore explain precisely how the proceeds of the oil-backed facilities were deployed and whether they were invested in projects capable of generating sustainable economic returns.
\nHURIWA says Nigerians should not be asked to accept vague assurances about macroeconomic stability while future oil revenues are increasingly committed to existing financial obligations.
\nThe organisation calls on the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to make full details of the facilities available to the public, including the amounts received, interest and other charges, crude volumes committed, pricing mechanisms, repayment schedules and outstanding obligations.
\nHURIWA also wants the authorities to explain the circumstances under which repayment periods could be extended if crude production falls or market conditions change.
\nThe organisation says Nigerians must equally understand the opportunity cost of the arrangements, particularly if international crude prices rise significantly while Nigeria remains obligated to deliver crude under previously agreed terms.
\nHURIWA stresses that transparency is not optional when the resources being committed belong to the Nigerian people.<\/p>\n
We cannot continue to mortgage tomorrow\u2019s resources simply because today\u2019s finances are under pressure.
\nEvery government has a responsibility to manage national assets in a manner that protects both present and future generations.
\nOil-backed borrowing may provide temporary liquidity, but it becomes irresponsible if it merely postpones fiscal problems while consuming resources that future Nigerians will need.
\nHURIWA therefore calls on the National Assembly and relevant oversight institutions to subject all existing oil-backed financing arrangements to rigorous scrutiny.
\nThe organisation also demands an assessment of whether Nigeria has received commensurate value for the crude already committed and whether adequate safeguards exist to prevent the misuse of future oil revenues.
\nHURIWA says the country urgently needs to move away from a fiscal model that repeatedly converts natural resources into short-term cash without building sufficient productive capacity.
\nThe organisation maintains that Nigeria\u2019s oil wealth should be used to create infrastructure, industries, jobs and sustainable sources of revenue rather than continually financing recurring fiscal pressures.
\nHURIWA says Nigerians deserve an economy in which natural resources are treated as national assets and not simply as collateral for successive rounds of borrowing.
\nThe organisation therefore urges the Federal Government to place transparency, accountability and long-term national interest above short-term financial convenience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbekele The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) says Nigeria\u2019s growing reliance on oil-backed borrowing amounts to a dangerous mortgaging of the country\u2019s economic future and raises serious questions about fiscal responsibility, transparency and intergenerational justice. HURIWA says the reported commitment of about 340 million barrels of future crude production to service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18224,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18223\/revisions\/18224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}