The Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) has warned the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai
Mohammed, to forget the move to secure $500 million dollars (N182
billion) loan, purportedly to upgrade the Nigerian Television Authority
(NTA).
Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP National Publicity Secretary, said this in a statement Monday night.
PDP
advised the National Assembly to turn down the request by President
Muhammadu Buhari government to plunge Nigeria into more debt through his
request for additional $29.9 billion dollars loan.
The party
noted that under the Buhari Presidency, foreign debt has accumulated to
$83 billion dollars with nothing to show for it.
“The PDP alerts
that the request for the approval of $500 million is aimed at setting
the stage for further fleecing of our nation’s economy as the Federal
Government under the Buhari administration has shown no commitment
towards nation building, transparency and accountability in governance.
“Moreover,
the Federal Government has failed to present details of the requested
$29.9 billion dollars loan in which the $500 million being requested by
the Minister of Information and Culture is embedded; a development that
points to nothing but the corruption in the Buhari administration.
“While
counselling the Minister to perish the thoughts of $500 million, the
PDP charges him to use his appearance at the National Assembly to give
account of the funds so far released to the Ministry of Information and
Culture which has been plagued by cases and allegations of corruption
under his watch,” he said.
The party further demanded that Lai
Mohammed provide answers to the alleged National Broadcasting Commission
(NBC) N2.5 billion fraud.