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DMO News Clips !!
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NIGERIAN DEBT MANAGEMENT, A NEW WAY
FORWARD
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management of Nigerian Foreign and Domestic Debt has been a major problem
area in all governments since independence. The present administration as
part of its debt-restructuring programme in September 2001 established the
Debt Management Office to tackle and find lasting solutions to this
problem. The DMO as is often called used to be in the Central Bank of
Nigeria but is now a semi- autonomous organization being run by a
Director-General appointed by the Presidency. Before the establishment of
the DMO, debt management in Nigeria had been characterized by structural
deficiencies and chronic inefficiencies. |
Major
shortcomings have been identified to include diffusion of
responsibilities; weak inter-agency coordination poor record keeping;
complicated and inefficient debt service payment arrangements low quality
human resources; and lack of a well defined strategy among others. The
broad objectivities of establishing the DMO are to rationalize and
streamline management of the country's debt with a view to sharpening
strategic focus and achieving operational efficiency; creating a reliable,
reconciled public foreign debt database in a central place and providing
information necessary for successful debt negotiations. |
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The Office Is Also Saddled With The Immense Duties Of: |
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Creating good records manually as
well as electronically so that at any time the nations debt can be
reported and analyzed in an accountable and transparent manner. |
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Verifying creditor's claims and
processing them for payment, resolving queries and providing CBN with
forecast of future payments. |
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Monitoring debt indicators and other
economic variables. Creating scenarios to simulate a variety of
possibilities and taking action where necessary. Conducting periodic
portfolio reviews and participating in debt sustainability analysis.
Providing reports for monitoring project implementation and budget
formulation and |
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Developing a sustainable debt
strategy using reports and data to test new loan offers and assessing
their concession ability. |
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The Director-General of the DMO is a seasoned administrator with rich
experience in the area of development finance and external debt
management. Other key members of its leadership drawn for the private
sector and the World Bank, have complementary backgrounds in corporate
finance, development economics and strategic management. To ensure cognate
continuity, a complement of core staff were drawn from the best of the
Central Bank of Nigeria Debt Management Department and the External
Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance, the two bodies, hitherto,
saddled with Nigeria's Foreign Debt management. The team forges the
necessary debt strategy which will enhance national development while
still considering creditor understanding.
The vision of setting up the DMO as an
independent organization is gradually paying off. The country's actual
debt records have been clarified and acceptable debt position in
commitments to the IMF, World Bank and members of the Paris and London
club, have been updated.
The DMO as a body, is among those currently
spearheading the global plea for debt relief to Nigeria and other third
world countries. The organization is recognized and accepted by Nigerian
creditors as a dependable and articulate authority to do business with
Being under the presidency, the severity of the debt problem and
implication of state borrowing will be immediately communicable to the
government. Knowing that the DMO enjoys strong political support and
backing from the government, it is expected to provide important input
into macroeconomic management as it impacts on or is impacted by foreign
debt. From the look of things, years of debt management problems are
becoming things of the past.
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DMO
MISSION STATEMENT
"TO TRANSFORM NIGERIA'S DEBT
PORTFOLIO INTO AN ASSET FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT"
VISION
"TO BUILD A WORLD-CLASS DMO
CAPABLE OF
MAKING NIGERIA'S DEBT SUSTAINABLE BY 2006"
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