What I told Buhari about Borrowings, Lawan Opens Up after Meeting President in Aso Villa
- Senate president Ahmad Lawan met with President Buhari at the State House on Monday, August 23
- After the meeting, the principal lawmaker addressed newsmen, explaining what he discussed with President Buhari
- According to Lawan, the meeting centred on governance issues, especially how to get more revenues and reduce borrowings
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Aso Rock, Abuja - Ahmad Lawan, president of the Senate, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to reduce the external borrowings being incurred to fund the country’s annual budgets.
ThisDay reported that the principal lawmaker advised the president to, instead, focus on blocking financial leakages and avoiding wastage in all tiers of government.
Source: Facebook
Legit.ng gathers that Lawan said this on Monday, August 23, in Abuja, after a closed-door meeting with President Buhari at the State House.
He explained that his discussion with the president centred on the need to take steps to increase revenue generation by government agencies and reduce dependence on external loans to fund the budget.
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His words:
“I had discussions with the president on some other governance issues that have to do with making the revenues in the country, especially for government at the federal and the state levels, and even local governments, even more.
“There are so many agencies of government that are not remitting their internally generated revenues and this is something that we have to address as quickly as possible, because we need to find a way of reducing the borrowing that we do.
“So, if there are areas that we can now get revenues that will help us reduce the amount of borrowing, then, so be it. And this is something that we all agreed with Mr President, that we should continue to look at those areas that we need to improve on revenue generation and collection."
The Senate president reiterated that federal, state, and local governments must swiftly find lasting solutions to the menace of agencies not remitting revenues to the treasuries, Daily Trust also reported.
Buhari faces legal action over alleged missing N106bn
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against President Buhari at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The non-government organisation (NGO) disclosed via its official Facebook page on Sunday, August 22, that it instituted the action against the president over his alleged failure to probe allegations that N106bn of public funds are missing from 149 ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).
The organisation accused President Buhari of failing to ensure the prosecution of those suspected to be responsible for the missing funds and the recovery of the money.
Source: Legit.ng
