By Nathaniel Zaccheaus, Abuja
Ugandan lawmakers have turned to Nigeria for lessons on sustainable borrowing and debt management, seeking practical ways to prevent public loans from becoming a burden while ensuring borrowed funds translate into tangible benefits for citizens.
The lawmakers, members of the Parliamentary Committee on National Economy, made the call in Abuja on Monday at the opening of a five-day training and induction workshop organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).
The programme is focused on strengthening their capacity to scrutinise government borrowing, loan guarantees, public expenditure and broader economic policies.
The Team Lead of the Ugandan delegation, Hon. Avur Jane Pacuto, said Nigeria was deliberately chosen for the capacity-building programme because of its democratic experience and institutional practices.
Pacuto, a three-term member of the Ugandan Parliament, said the engagement was designed to promote knowledge-sharing between the two Commonwealth countries, particularly on parliamentary oversight of public finance.
“We are here today as leaders from Uganda to learn and share from you, being a sister country in the Commonwealth,” she said.
“Because Nigeria is increasingly becoming very democratic, we thought there was no better place than Nigeria to come to.”
According to her, Uganda’s Committee on National Economy has a constitutional and parliamentary responsibility to scrutinise government borrowing, grants and guarantees, making the training directly relevant to its mandate.
She said the lawmakers were particularly interested in how governments could borrow responsibly and ensure that borrowed resources were channelled into projects capable of delivering measurable benefits to citizens.
“We are here to learn more about how borrowed resources should be used for the common good of our citizens, being cognisant of the fact that there are times when there are wastages and leakages in public funds,” Pacuto said.
She added that the delegation was also seeking practical approaches to managing debt sustainably amid exchange-rate fluctuations and changing international financial conditions.
Earlier, the Director-General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, urged the visiting lawmakers to subject government loans, debt proposals and guarantees to rigorous scrutiny before approving.
Sulaiman said legislative responsibility extended beyond lawmaking to effective oversight of public finances and ensuring accountability in the management of national resources.
He said Uganda’s projected economic growth of between 6.5 and seven per cent in 2026 was encouraging, but cautioned that economic expansion alone could not guarantee inclusive or sustainable development.
According to him, sound public financial management, fiscal discipline, debt sustainability, efficient expenditure and productive investment were essential to converting economic growth into improved living conditions.
He urged lawmakers to look beyond headline figures in loan proposals and interrogate the purpose, cost, expected returns and sustainability of proposed borrowing.
Sulaiman also advised legislators to establish whether projects financed through borrowed funds were delivering the outcomes for which they were approved and whether such borrowing remained consistent with long-term national development priorities.
“Questions surrounding sovereign borrowing, debt sustainability, loan guarantees and externally financed projects involve complex economic, financial and legal considerations,” he said.
He stressed that parliamentary scrutiny should be evidence-based rather than driven by automatic opposition to government proposals or uncritical approval.
“Effective oversight is about asking the right questions, demanding credible evidence, identifying risks, assessing alternatives and ensuring that public resources are deployed in accordance with the national interest,” Sulaiman said.
The NILDS boss said the rapidly changing global environment made continuous capacity development essential for legislators and parliamentary technical staff.
He cited geopolitical tensions, changing global trade and investment patterns, technological disruption, climate-related vulnerabilities, commodity-price fluctuations and evolving international financial conditions as challenges requiring stronger legislative capacity.
He also pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Area and regional economic integration, saying African legislatures must strengthen their technical capacity to take advantage of emerging opportunities while managing external shocks.
Sulaiman said modern parliaments needed lawmakers and technical professionals capable of analysing economic data, fiscal projections, debt instruments, public expenditure frameworks and development-financing arrangements.
He therefore advocated continuous training and retraining of parliamentary professionals, noting that economic conditions, government policies and financial instruments were constantly changing.
He stressed that the engagement with Uganda was not intended to present Nigeria’s experience as a model to be copied wholesale.
Rather, he said, the programme was designed to promote comparative learning, critical reflection and adaptation of useful practices to Uganda’s institutional circumstances.
The expected outcomes include improved capacity to analyse macroeconomic and fiscal developments, scrutinise sovereign borrowing and loan guarantees, assess debt sustainability and monitor externally financed projects.
The workshop is also expected to strengthen oversight of fiscal responsibility and budget performance, improve evidence-based parliamentary scrutiny and enhance committee reports and recommendations.
Sulaiman said Nigeria and Uganda, despite differences in their economic and institutional environments, faced common challenges involving fiscal sustainability, public borrowing, debt management, revenue mobilisation, budget implementation and legislative oversight.
He said stronger parliamentary cooperation between both countries could contribute to improved accountability in the management of public resources.
According to him, Uganda’s growth prospects would need to be supported by prudent economic policies, responsible borrowing, productive investment and strong accountability institutions.
“A Parliament that learns continuously is better positioned to legislate effectively, oversee responsibly and represent its citizens meaningfully,” Sulaiman said.
