Tinubu’s Loans Bone-crushing To Nigerians, Sinking Country Further – Atiku

…Says, its bringing insufferable pressure on the economy 

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday, November 21, 2024, said that Nigeria is sinking further in debt, while the National Assembly has become an accomplice once more.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, stressed that the Tinubu’s loans are bone-crushing to Nigerians and bringing insufferable pressure on the economy, especially when they are not properly negotiated and utilized.

He specifically said that the recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning.

Atiku in a statement he personally signed, noted that the report is coming just when the government has already sent a proposal to the National Assembly signalling an intention to borrow an additional N1.7tn being shortfall in the 2024 budget through Euro Bonds.

In the words of Atiku; “What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD.

“Tinubu had, in July this year, boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch have collected all-time high revenues to finance the Budget.

“Why then are they still borrowing? There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets,” he said.

Atiku said that it is concerning that the voracious appetite for these humongous loans is powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs.

According to him; “A report by Budgit, a budget watchdog, has disclosed that the 2024 Budget is a mess because of the level of pork associated with it.

“I feel a sense of personal agony seeing that just a few years after the administration of President Obasanjo took our country out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum”.

Atiku therefore warned that it is time that the Tinubu-led federal government apply more caution and apply arithmetic to the loan frenzy.