Atiku Condemns FG’s $29.96bn Loan Request

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said Nigeria had taken almost as much foreign debt in the last three years as it had taken in 30 years before 2015 combined.

Atiku, who described the current debt situation as frightening, stated that it is not just because of the amount, but because of such unprecedented borrowing.

The former vice president in his verified tweeter handle said: “We have emerged as the world headquarters for extreme poverty and the global capital for out-of-school children. It begs the question: ‘what were the funds used for?’

Quoting the former United States President, John Quincy Adams, who once said: ‘There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword, the other is by debt,” Atiku said: “He may have very well been referring to Nigeria of the last three years.”

The PDP presidential candidate in the last general election said the business of government is too serious to be left in the hands of politicians, explaining that: “We must all ask questions because if they throw away the future, it is not going to be their future they are throwing away, it will be all our futures.”

According to the former vice president, the fact that Nigeria currently budgets more money for debt servicing (N2.7 trillion) than it does on capital expenditure (N2.4 trillion) is already an indicator that Nigeria has borrowed more money than it can afford to borrow. “And the thing is that debt servicing is not debt repayment. Debt servicing just means that Nigeria is paying the barest minimum allowable by its creditors,” he said.

He said while spending 50 percent of the current revenue on debt servicing, “this administration wants to take further loans of $29.6 billion! To say that this is irresponsible is itself an understatement.”

Atiku said: “As a businessman, one of the very first things I learnt is that you do not take loans except you are expanding your business. Even as an individual, when your income cannot fund your lifestyle, you are challenged to grow your income, not your borrowings.

“Even if this administration borrows $1 trillion, it will never be enough because their challenge is one of capacity. They are not using the funds they already have wisely. They do not need more debt. They need more intellectual capacity.”