DMO to ensure judicious use of $1b Eurobond for power sector – DG

The Debt Management Office on Thursday said it would ensure judicious
utilisation of the $1 billion (N155 billion) Eurobond recently
borrowed for the power sector.
The Director-General of DMO, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, made the promise in
Calabar, Cross River State.
Nwankwo was speaking at a one-day workshop for the South-South,
South-East and South-West geopolitical zones on Effective Sub-National
Debt Management for Top Policy Makers in the states.
Nwankwo said that there would be deliberate attempt to report findings
periodically.
He said that states were free to borrow from the international capital
markets, provided they met the requirements.
He said: “All borrowed funds must be well utilised.
“Even the $1 billion Eurobond, the DMO will ensure that the projects
in the power sector are closely monitored.
“We are not only going to ensure close monitoring but will also make
sure that the findings are reported from time to time.”
Nwankwo said that the country currently operated a vibrant fiscal
federalism with high level fiscal autonomy for states of the
federation.
He added: “However, we need to ensure effective coordination and
sufficient congruence, vertically between the federal and state
governments, horizontally among the states, in order to maximise
synergy for growth, development and poverty reduction.”
Nwankwo said that states must get approval and guarantee from the
Federal Ministry of Finance and fulfil various conditions of the
Securities and Exchange Commission as part of the requirements.
He said: “States can borrow so far they get approval from the Federal
Government.
“There are various levels of control and supervision of external and
internal borrowings.
“What applies to listed companies that borrow from the capital market
also applies to state governments.
Nwankwo also said that the states must meet the possibility of paying
the loans at the agreed time.
He said that the workshop was designed to ensure that the achievements
recorded in sub-regional debt management were internalised,
consolidated, sustained and improved upon.
Declaring the workshop open, Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State
said that as decision makers and managers of finances, the
participants should come up with sustainable strategies that would
enhance debt sustainability and management.
Imoke, represented by his Deputy, Efiok Cobham, said that as a key
instrument of sound public finance management, the DMO had continued
to play a pivotal role in debt matters.
He said that the DMO had to do this “not only to avoid relapse but
also to regulate debt matters”.