A member of the House of Representatives representing Ethiope Federal Constituency, Mr. Ben Ibakpa, has accused some Nigerian officials of signing loan documents from China written in the Chinese language.
Speaking on a Channels Television breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, On Thursday, Mr. Ibakpa claimed that the National Assembly is not being carried along when the country takes loans from China.
He claimed that some Nigerian officials do not critically look into the loan documents before signing, adding that, “Some of these documents come in the Chinese language.”
According to Mr. Ibakpa, “The National Assembly is kept in the dark in all these loans. The National Assembly is not part of it. Even the Bureau for Public Procurement is not aware of these loans.
“These loans are collected via the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). They bring a bill, the Federal executive approves the bill,” the lawmaker said.
He said the present administration, having campaigned with an anti-corruption mantra, should do better in checking these loans as corruption is fueled by awarding of contracts.
While admitting that the National Assembly may not have done the right thing over the years, he added that whatever has been done in the past that it is not correct, needs to be corrected.
On the 2020 budget, Mr. Ibakpa said little was known about how the money was being spent, adding, “We are talking about over N2 trillion appropriated for debt servicing. We appropriate and we don’t know how this money is being spent. That is why we need to look into what has been happening since 2002.”
