The Trade Union Congress has said borrowing money from the World Bank to share with vulnerable people as a palliative is an enemy of any economy.
This came on the premise of President Bola Tinubu’s administration plan to borrow about $400 million for palliative to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.
Kicking against the development, the Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, Dr. Tommy Okon, said it was not a bad idea for the government to give palliatives to Nigerians through conditional cash transfers, but insisted that borrowing from the global bank to achieve the objective was an economic waste.
He said it would be okay if the government borrows for productive ventures, which would lead to greater expectations because it is an investment.
He reiterated that it is an “economic waste” to borrow money and then share as palliative instead of ploughing the borrowed funds on what could generate returns.
He opined that the nation’s problems could be resolved in-house instead of opting for borrowing.
“Borrowing money to give to the people as palliative is an enemy of any economy. How will you pay back? If the government is borrowing money for productive ventures, it means there is an expectation, which is an investment but when you borrow to give out it is an expenditure, where there is nothing to expect.
“What the government is doing could amount to doing exactly what the previous administration did that yielded no positive impact on the economy and the citizens. As far as I am concerned, it is economic waste.
“The socio-economic challenges are enough reason for the government to sit and look inward towards solving the problem in-house, rather than borrowing. The analysis by the World Bank is annoying because they don’t look at the insecurity in Nigeria or ethnic clashes in Nigeria; rather they use them to paint the country in bad light. Nigeria’s problems can only be solved by Nigerians where you have a purposeful leader who is transformational in action,” The Guardian quoted him as saying.
