Majority leader of the House of Representatives, Rep Femi Gbjabiamila (APC Lagos), has described the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose as inconsequential when it comes to agreements between two countries. He urged the Chinese President Xi Jingping to disregard a purported letter written to him by the Governor who claimed to be speak on behalf of the Nigerian people.
Gbajabiamila in his own open letter to the Chinese President said the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, ultra vires the mandate for a governor of a federating state to delve into any matter outside his state, particularly as it concerns international agreements between two sovereign nations.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State had written the Chinese government, seeking the stoppage of the $2 billion loan being sought by the Federal Government, saying that “the government of China should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations are totally opposed to increment of the country’s debt burden, which is already being serviced with 25 per cent of the Federal Government annual budget.”
He explained that the duties and responsibilities of a governor are clearly spelt out in the Nigerian constitution and they do not include negotiating loans on behalf of the country nor do they extend to foreign affairs or economic diplomacy.
The letter reads in part; “My attention has been drawn to a letter written to you by a Governor of one of the states of the Nigerian nation, wherein the said Governor purported to speak on behalf of the Nigerian people, describing himself as a stake holder in the Nigerian “project”.
“As the leader of the House of Representatives, I am saddled with the responsibility of driving all government business and policies in the House. It is therefore incumbent upon me to set the records straight, though I am sure the letter written to you by the Governor will probably receive little (if any) attention from your high office, assuming it even gets to you.”
“Mr. President, perhaps our governor is not fully aware of the way budgeting works at the federal level. The Federal Government of Nigeria has a 3 year budget rolling plan captured under a Medium Term Expenditure Framework. The MTEF 2016- 2018 has a borrowing component in which the legislature approved for the President to incur both domestic and foreign loans for the purposes of infrastructural development and deficit financing.
“This MTEF was passed unanimously, by the National Assembly including the 6 House Members and 3 Senators from Ekiti, the governor’s state. I am therefore dismayed as are many members of the National Assembly that the governor would claim that the loan sought from your government did not have parliamentary imprimatur. It is also a fallacy that the country’s debt is being financed with 25 percent of the Federal Governments annual budget
“Surprisingly, the governor refers to a 2 billion dollar loan as opposed to a 6 billion dollar investment package. This betrays the fact that he is not fully seized of the facts of the transaction between our two countries,“
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