Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has opened up on the political challenges he faced after questioning foreign loan requests during the administration of late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Saraki said he faced strong resistance for insisting on proper scrutiny of loan approvals while serving as Senate President between 2015 and 2019.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Global Strategic Advisory Group meeting held at Villa La Collina, Saraki reflected on his time in office and the difficult decisions he had to make in pushing for accountability in public finance.
The former Kwara State governor spoke during a panel discussion themed, “Development Policies—Withdrawal of the U.S. from International Development: Opportunities and Challenges.”
According to him, Nigeria’s economic future depends heavily on stronger internal revenue generation and more transparent fiscal management.
Saraki said one of Nigeria’s biggest economic problems remains its low tax-to-GDP ratio, stressing that the country cannot continue to depend heavily on external borrowing to drive development.
He explained that while leading the National Assembly, he pushed reforms aimed at strengthening fiscal discipline and improving transparency in government spending.
“During my tenure as Senate President, we placed strong emphasis on fiscal oversight, introducing open budget hearings, confronting the issue of unremitted revenues held outside the treasury system, and working on petroleum sector governance reform.
“These were not easy fights. But they were necessary ones, because the alternative is permanent external dependency.
“I experienced this firsthand when, as Senate President of Nigeria, I challenged the executive on foreign loan approvals and received significant political push-back because the system was not designed to support proper scrutiny of purpose or impact.
“Many of these loans were accepted as if they were free gifts, yet repayment obligations remained.”
Saraki’s remarks shed more light on the tensions that often existed between the executive and legislative arms of government during the Buhari administration, especially over issues relating to borrowing and public finance.
Saraki also stressed the need for African countries to build self-sustaining economic systems rather than relying heavily on foreign support and external financing.
