NIGERIA: YET ANOTHER DEBT?
Nigerians have begun to lend their unbiased voices to the impropriety of the reintroduction of a bogus $30 billion foreign loan plan by the nation's President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) which was rejected by the 8th National Assembly in 2018.
Many of her citizens continue to rationally express their limitless displeasure over PMB's humongous borrowing quest which has doubled the country's external debt from N12 trillion in 2015 to over N22 trillion in 2019, (Debt Management Office, DMO Nigeria) and placed undue burden on the nation’s economic posterity. With an overt failure in many of the recent policies of the ruling government, there lies the widespread notion that such borrowing, if effected, may most likely be hit by the factors that successfully frustrated the effective use of preceding.
This worrying development is exacerbated by the entrenched corruption, cancerous nepotism and incompetence characterizing the nation's government which has birthed increasing inflation, economic imbalance, a huge loss of investors confidence, increasing budget deficit, outrageous currency exchange spikes and a depleting reserve. This is the bane of the vicious cycle of governments resort to continuous borrowing for the servicing of recurrent expenditure and incurred overheads to the detriment of the nation's future. This was the view of Prof.Olufemi Saibu of the Economics Department at the University of Lagos. The idea of another external loan is uncalled for as Nigeria must begin to pursue steps to reduce and not increase her outstanding loans, taking a cue from Greece.
With a highly ineffective DMO foreign debt strategy, the nation's citizens must seek to pressure the National Assembly against cowering to the abuse of provisions of the Debt Management Act (section 21&27) which accords the assembly the right to endorse or refuse such loans and to which PMB hinges to re-present another catastrophic borrowing escapade.
Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari Professor Yemi Osinbajo Debt Management Office Nigeria Federal Ministry of Finance – Nigeria Economics – World Economic Forum Bank Of Industry, Nigeria Nigerian Senate Central Bank of Nigeria House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria Pat Utomi Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Goodluck Jonathan Atiku Abubakar Nigerian Economic Summit Group Nigerians in Diaspora, UK All Progressives Congress – APC Lai Mohammed Comrade Adams Oshiomole Official Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Nigeria
