Should the FG go for the $3.5bn W’Bank loan? Mafindi bears his mind

The plan to get loan from the world bank by the Buhari led administration has been questioned by many respected Nigerians.

A former director of finance in the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and deputy director of the Goodluck Jonathan campaign organisation, Alhaji Isa Tafida Mafindi bear his mind on why President Muhammadu Buhari needed to access World bank loans for investment into agriculture and the solid minerals sectors of the economy.

Mixed reactions had trailed recent reports that the federal government was planning to borrow $3.5 billion to finance the 2016 budget, as Nigerians expressed divergent opinions on whether or not the country should access the loans.

But reacting to the development, Mafindi told journalists in Abuja that, following the downward trend in the earnings from crude oil at the international market, the federal government indeed needed the loans to diversify the economy.

He said, “This is the best time and the best regime for borrowing in Nigeria because the President has developed a credibility and that credibility comes before collateral. He has the best base for collateral because he has said that whatever he gets would be invested into agriculture and solid minerals. These two sectors have the capacities for multiplier effects if the borrowed funds are invested in them.

“Today, the world is looking for maize. SouthAfrica is importing 1million tons of maize, the same with Zimbabwe and Nigeria can produce three times aggregate of all these. Besides, if commercial agriculture is done properly, we can develop 100,000 hectares per state for this maize and in those farms, we can go down to value added.

“If the maize is planted, before the maize reaches maturity, we must have install processors for the raw material for animal feeds and process the maize into Semovita, Semolina Corn flakes etc. So, for every one bag of maize which the cost of production would cost N10,000, we may end up turning that one bag 50,000 with value added.”

On investments into solid minerals, Mafindi who noted that there could never have been a better period to invest into the sector than now recalled that Shoghai Empire based its mining sites in Zamfara State.

Insisting that investing borrowed funds into the sector would bring the solid minerals alive with attendant capacity to create jobs, he also suggested that the President should utilize his numerous trips abroad to woo interested investors into the sector maintaining that the loans would help in relating the nation’s economy.