Presidency has predictable response on half-trillion-naira judgement debt

The presidency has defended President Muhammadu Buhari’s last minute move to make questionable appointments and pay over half a trillion naira as judgement debt.

President Buhari on Wednesday asked the Senate to approve the payment of about N537 billion as judgement debt, made up of $566.8 million, £98.5 million and N226 billion. He did not provide full details of the debts entered against the government in court cases.

Mr Adesina said the government is obligated to pay any debt incurred during its eight-year tenure. “A wicked man pays and owes not, that is what the good book says,” he said Thursday on Channels Television.

“When you owe and you refuse to pay, the Bible says you are a wicked man. If the government is owing all those judgement debts, why shouldn’t it pay? It should pay.”

– Why this matters

With just days remaining to the end of their tenures, the president and governors have engaged in a flurry of last-minute decisions many Nigerians have questioned.

Between March 20 and May 14, various ministries have awarded over N3.7 trillion worth of contracts, according to Punch. Some governors have announced additional budgets, some for their benefit, while some have made controversial appointments.

On Wednesday, the federal government swore in seven federal commissioners of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

The president has made controversial appointments as well, including the appointment of Garba Baba-Umar, a retired assistant inspector general of police as a senior security adviser on international police cooperation and counterterrorism in the Office of the Minister of Police Affairs.

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Mr Adesina said Mr Buhari’s term ends on May 29, implying the decisions are valid till he hands over.

“The government has a mandate from a time to a certain time, that mandate was from 2019 to 2023, so the government is working,” he said.

“It depends on the president. Style is typical to each person, that is the style of the president.

“He wants them to work till the very last day. We know some presidents who would dissolve (the cabinet) after the last FEC meeting, that is their own style.”