House of Reps: Brilliant and boring
By Levi Obijiofor

IN just one week, members of the House of Representatives demonstrated traces of intellectual brilliance in the manner the House Committee on Public Accounts investigated, found and announced widespread evidence of fraud in various federal government's departments, agencies and ministries. But the ovation had hardly vanished when the public began to question the intellectual sagacity of members of the same House, following the resolution adopted by the House which urged the federal government to halt further payment of Nigeria's foreign debts. It was the first time in recent days the entire House made an unsound judgment over an international economic matter.

There is something inelegant and somewhat unreasonable in the resolution adopted by the House. The reasons adduced by the House are illogical and unsustainable. Nigeria is a debtor nation. A debtor, we are reminded, often has no choice. If Nigeria had a choice, it wouldn't have accumulated so much debt. Nigeria would have paid off its debts or reduced significantly its debts to creditor nations.

In the international financial environment, any debtor nation that defaults by deliberate means on repayment or servicing of its debts is really shutting itself out of the international economic system. You simply cannot do business anymore. Your monetary policy would be in shambles. Other members of the international economic community will shun your letters of credit. Your financial institutions, including banks, will die a slow and painful death. In a globalised economic system, no nation can afford to isolate its self from the big wealthy nations.

Members of the House who sponsored the motion were visibly upset that international creditor nations (the G-8 nations and the Paris Club of Creditors) refused to grant Nigeria some debt relief, despite efforts made by the federal government to improve the economy. It is obvious from the arguments produced in the House that some of the members lacked a clear knowledge and understanding of how the global economic system operates. Why should the House of Representatives advocate an act of civil (or in this case economic) disobedience over a problem they cannot solve or influence? A beggar who does not want to remain a beggar should work hard to transform or uplift himself or herself. If Nigeria does not like the conditions set by the creditor nations, Nigerian leaders know exactly what to do. First, we must strive to live within our means.

Part of the reason why foreign creditors have consistently refused to forgive Nigeria's debts or to classify Nigeria as a poor country that deserves to benefit from debt relief is based on what they see in Nigeria. They see a country that shows off wealth, and they see a country where ostentatious lifestyle is at odds with the characteristics of poverty. We cannot fool the creditor nations. What they see is what they believe. When members of the House of Representatives wonder why G-8 countries and the Paris Club of Creditors have failed to include Nigeria in the list of developing countries whose debts should be forgiven or reduced, it seems to me the Representatives have allowed sheer patriotism to blur their judgment. Creditor nations are not blind and are not fooled easily. Nigeria has not produced or presented to the creditor nations credible evidence to demonstrate that the country deserves to benefit from debt relief. For clarity, President Olusegun Obasanjo's numerous overseas trips, his participation in G-8 meetings and his flawed anti-corruption campaigns are no evidence.

The message Nigeria sends to the creditor nations is that it is a wealthy country with corrupt leaders and poor management skills. We squander the little we have. We throw money around casually. On the streets of Nigeria, people find money that other people have lost carelessly. And Nigeria is supposed to be a poor country. In developed countries, it is extremely difficult to find one dollar or cent on the streets. The explanation is simple - we fritter the little money and resources we have while people in developed countries with a much higher standard of living manage and protect what they have. Nigeria wants to be perceived and treated by creditor nations as a poor country but the political leaders love to live above their means. Our politicians engage in unnecessary and money wasting overseas trips. Anyone who suffers a heart murmur jumps into the next available flight to London, where the hospital system and medical facilities are still functioning. None of them likes to address the problems in our medical institutions.

Accountability is an offensive word to our political leaders. Despite President Obasanjo's anti-corruption campaign, how many federal ministers or state governors and their senior officials return from official overseas trips and render an accurate and honest account of their trips, without fudging figures, without inflating expenses that were never incurred, and without conspiring with the Accounts Payable section in devising ways to receive money for what they did not spend overseas? It's a culture of corruption. When senior federal and state officials return from overseas trips, they get offended when they are asked to render an acquittal of the foreign currency they received prior to their overseas trips. Part of the reason why federal and state government officials fight literally for opportunities to travel overseas on official assignment is not just because of the huge estacode allowance they would receive ahead of an overseas trip but also the belief that foreign currency allowance received prior to an overseas trip must not be returned and should not be accounted for.

There are at times when mindless rhetoric can exacerbate rather than solve a nation's economic problems. The House of Representatives's recommendation to the federal government to suspend payment of Nigeria's foreign debts should be ignored because it would aggravate rather than ease the country's economic problems. If members of the House of Representatives are genuinely concerned about the lack of progress on Nigeria's foreign debts, they should look inwards and not take the creditor nations as hostages. Nigeria's past and present leaders must be held accountable.

Members of the House should be asking serious questions. For example, why, after more than 20 years, have Nigeria's debts remained on the rise rather than on the decline? How much money was budgeted for foreign debt servicing or payment every year in the past 20 years? Were the budgeted amounts paid or embezzled? This question is particularly relevant because of the obvious consequences of failing to service a debt. A debt blow-out is the likely consequence of failing to service a debt or failing to pay interests on foreign loans.

It is illogical to argue, as did the chairman of the House Information Committee, Alaba Ojomo, that failure to pay Nigeria's foreign debts would free the country from the burdens of underdevelopment and that it would facilitate Nigeria's economic development. I find this argument fully flawed. Nigeria can expect worse economic times and lack of economic development if it defaulted in the payment or servicing of its foreign debts. Nigeria cannot constitute a lone wolf in the international financial wilderness. By urging the federal government to halt arbitrarily the payment of Nigeria's foreign debts, members of the House of Representatives are asking Nigeria to commit economic harakiri. Is that really in the country's best interest? I don't think so.