A former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has queried the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government over what he termed sustained borrowing, and called on other lovers of Nigeria to speak up.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the PDP in the last general election in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Paul Ibe, on Wednesday said Nigerians cannot continue to borrow to pay salaries and support luxuries.
He explained that already over 50% of the nation’s revenue was going towards debt servicing and not debt repayments.
“On May 29, 2015, our national debt profile was at a very healthy ₦12 trillion. However, after four years of profligate spending, and even more irresponsible borrowing, our national debt doubled to ₦24.3 trillion by December, 2018.
“As alarming as this is, what is more troubling is that between December 2018 and March 2019, the administration of General Buhari added an additional and unprecedented ₦560 billion debt to our national debt profile.
“What could this junta have needed that amount for? If you take those dates into account, they fall on the period of electioneering, when monies were freely distributed by officials of this government in the name of Tradermoni and other election gimmicks that were discontinued after the election.
“We find it inconceivable that Nigeria could have had such unprecedented borrowings in the midst of almost unimaginable sorrowing, which resulted in our nation becoming the world headquarters for extreme poverty and the global capital of out-of-school children, even as we slipped in the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International.
“As someone who headed the National Economic Council that paid off Nigeria’s entire debt under the visionary leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar has the moral authority to call those who are turning Nigeria into a beggar nation to halt the drift into unsustainable borrowing,” he said.
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