Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, says the World Bank’s eight hundred million dollars loan to Nigeria for palliative is illegal.
Falana said this on Tuesday at the 30th Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR) forum in Abuja, organised by HEDA Resource Centre.
Recall that the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari announced that the federal government had secured a $800 million loan for post-subsidy palliative.
He said the country does not need a loan from the World Bank. He added what Nigeria need from the World Bank is to help the country identify where Nigeria’s looted funds are being hidden.
“What we need from the World Bank is to tell us where the monies looted from Nigeria are being hidden. They have the information. Instead of multiplying our problems by saying they are giving us a loan which we never asked for”, he said.
“I’ve said elsewhere, the $800 million loan is illegal—is at best a grant”.
According to the human rights lawyer, the loan is illegal because the fiscal responsibility act doesn’t have any provision for taking foreign loans for the purpose of providing palliative for citizens.
Falana also said big multinational oil companies are owing the country $62 billion for a period of eighteen years that the government did not implement a particular law.
He said the supreme court has ordered the companies to pay the money to the federal government.
