Nigeria Collapsing Under Unsustainable Debt – Atiku Sounds The Alarm
BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – Former vice president Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday said that the increasing debt profile of Nigeria, is becoming more than a source of concern.
Atiku stressed that the situation is now at the stage where all genuine lovers of Nigeria ought to raise an alarm.
He said that as someone, who headed the National Economic Council that paid off Nigeria’s entire debt under the visionary leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo, he has the moral authority to call those who are turning Nigeria into a beggar nation to halt the drift into unsustainable borrowing.
In a statement issued by his Media adviser, Paul Ibe, the former vice president noted that on May 29, 2015, the national debt profile of the country was at a very healthy ₦12 trillion, adding however that after four years of profligate spending, and even more irresponsible borrowing, our national debt doubled to ₦24.3 trillion by December, 2018.
Atiku, who was the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the February 2019 election, observed that as alarming as this is, what is more troubling is that between December 2018 and March 2019, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari added an additional and unprecedented ₦560 billion debt to our national debt profile.
In his words; “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.
“We cannot continue to borrow to pay salaries and support luxuries. Already, over 50% of our revenue is going towards debt servicing, not even debt repayments.
“We raise this alarm as responsible citizens and call on other lovers of Nigeria to speak up as we have no other nation to call our home, but Nigeria,” Atiku cautioned.
