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Finance Ministry supports States doing business with IDB – Adeosun

By on February 24, 2016

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has stated that the role of her ministry was to support the various states in the country wanting  to do business with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

Her explanation followed the disclosure by the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum  (NGF) and Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, that the recent trip of the forum to Saudi Arabia to seek a loan from IDB was facilitated by the Ministry of Finance.

The NGF had come under intense criticisms following a recent trip to Jedda, Saudi Arabia, by some northern governors, led by Shettima, to seek a loan from the IDB.

In response to the criticisms, Shettima, in a statement by his media aide, Mallam Isa Gusau, said: “The IDB trip itself was not just done with the consent and approval of the Federal Ministry of Finance, it was even the Federal Ministry of Finance that facilitated the trip and they had a representative as part of the delegation.”

But in her response on the role of the ministry vis-à-vis the trip, Adeosun said: “The Ministry of Finance’s role is to support states who are looking  towards doing business with IDB. These are not sovereign loans but the law requires that they be managed through the Department for International Economic Relations. We have no visibility of amounts as these are a function of negotiations between the states and IDB.”

Shettima had also in response to comments credited to the Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, describing  the action of the northern governors as unlawful, said Sani’s position “was unfortunate and out of ignorance,” adding that:  “It was purely based on a lack of the slightest knowledge about the issue…”Governors of the northern states cannot just jet out to Saudi Arabia to solicit or collect loans without following due process and the law further states that state governments and their agencies wishing to obtain external loans shall obtain the Federal Government’s approval in principle from the Federal Ministry of Finance.”

According to him, Sani’s criticism of the governors’ Jedda trip would have  been uncalled for if he had contacted the Ministry of Finance or the Northern Governors’ Forum

“The Northern States Governors’ Forum has the highest regard for the institution of the Senate and its 109 senators. It is therefore not the intention of the forum to take issue with one of its very own — the scholarly Comrade, Senator Shehu Sani, Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debts,” Shettima had said.

 

[ThisDay]