Atiku Questions Survival Of Nigeria As A Result Of Debts Overhang 

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday again raised alarm over what he described as the “existential threat” affecting Nigeria and for which the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has chosen to ignore. 
Atiku specifically said that if the current trend whereby the Buhari’s administration spent a whopping ₦610.2 billion on debt servicing for domestic debts continues, Nigeria will have spent ₦2.5 trillion on debt servicing by the end of 2019, a figure that is more than our capital budget. Can a nation survive like this? 
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the February 2019 election, therefore urged stakeholders in the Nigerian project to as a matter of urgency and national interest act immediately to address Nigeria’s unsustainable debt burden.

He said this is especially as the National Economic Council which he chaired in 2006, paid off Nigeria’s entire debt under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo. 
A statement by the his media adviser, Paul Ibe said that as if to vindicate the former Vice President, the National Bureau of Statistics has released statistics which revealed that in the first quarter of 2019 (January to March), the Buhari’s regime spent a whopping ₦610.2 billion on debt servicing for domestic debts.

Atiku noted that these monies were spent on servicing (paying interest) debt, not in repaying debt. 
According to him; “To put this in perspective, in the first three months of 2019, what Nigeria has spent on servicing domestic debts, so far, is more than the combined entire budget for education and youth development for the whole of 2019. 
“How did this happen? How could an administration double our national debt from ₦12 trillion in 2015 to ₦24.9 trillion today and still have no tangible evidence of development to show for it? 
“The reason is that no matter how much resources you give a man who does not know how to create wealth, it will never be enough. 
“If the current trend continues, Nigeria will have spent ₦2.5 trillion on debt servicing by the end of 2019, a figure that is more than our capital budget. Can a nation survive like this?” 
Atiku sounded a note of warning, stressing that the deeper we go into unsustainable debt, the more of the independence Nigeria loses to her creditors.

He said the older generation should sacrifice for the youth, adding that the administration must not be a vampire generation that squanders the financial lifeblood of Nigeria and bequeath financial bondage to the next generation.
Atiku said that for the avoidance of doubt, not long ago, he outlined a robust strategy for the funding of the country’s development needs without resort to indiscriminate borrowing.