Former Vice President and former Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the 2019 General Elections, Atiku Abubakar, said Nigeria had squandered its opportunities and that of the future generation by borrowing more than it earned.
Mr. Abubakar stated this in response to Nigeria’s first Quarter 2020 financial reports in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning reports that the Federal Government spent N943.12 billion servicing debts, while it made N950.56 billion in revenue during the same period.
“This means that Nigeria’s debt to revenue ratio is now 99 percent,” Mr. Abubakar said. Adding that “nothing has shocked me in my entire life in public service.
“No one should be deceived. This is a crisis! Debt servicing does not equate debt repayment… The principal remains untouched and is possibly growing.
“If our revenue figures do not go up, and go up quickly, Nigeria risks a situation where our revenue cannot even sustain our debt servicing obligations”
He recalled that he had repeatedly warned the Federal Government two times – in December 2019, warned the government to “desist from indiscriminate lending” and in May 2020, advised it to reduce the budget by 25 per cent to reflect economic realities — but “my entreaties were brushed aside.”
Mr. Abubakar said because he was part of a government that paid Nigeria’s entire foreign debt, he noted that he was “concerned by the alarming and avoidable unprecedented increase in our debt to GDP ratio and debt to revenue ratio.”
“Not only have we squandered our opportunities, we have also squandered the opportunities of our future generations by bequeathing them a debt that they neither incurred nor enjoyed.”
The former Vice President urged the Federal Government to cut unnecessary expenditure and end wasteful projects, including the Presidential Air Fleet maintenance, needless building renovations, overseas travels and treatment and the N4.6 billion Presidential villa maintenance budget.
“We cannot be on the verge of economic ruin, while still maintaining a Presidential Air Fleet that has more planes than the Presidential Fleets of those from whom we take these loans.”
Mr. Abubakar said Nigeria’s revenue which is dependent on a mono-product – oil and gas — was vulnerable to global shocks.
“Again, I warn that Nigeria is facing a crisis, and we cannot continue to keep up appearances by taking out more loans to prop up our economy. That will amount not just to robbing Peter to pay Paul, but to robbing our children to pay for our greed!” he concluded.
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