Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has warned President Muhammadu Buhari against taking more external loans.
Atiku, on Saturday, while speaking at a ceremony hosted by the American University of Nigeria in Yola, Adamawa, said Nigeria, under the administration of Buhari, has taken more loans in the last three years than it did in the 30 years preceding 2016.
“The fact that Nigeria currently budgets more money for debt servicing (N2.7 trillion), than we do on capital expenditure (N2.4 trillion) is already an indicator that we have borrowed more money than we can afford to borrow. And the thing is that debt servicing is not debt repayment. Debt servicing just means that we are paying the barest minimum allowable by our creditors,” Atiku said.
Buhari had on Thursday, sought the re-consideration and approval of the National Assembly on the 2016-2018 External Borrowing Plan of the Federal Government.
“Two weeks ago, a friend of mine, Prof. Anya O. Anya, revealed that Nigeria has taken more loans in the last three years than she has taken in the 30 years preceding 2016.
“I am a businessman. Perhaps the first lesson one learns in business is that you do not take loans except it is to expand your business. There is no justification for taking out loans to pay salaries; meanwhile, you are not investing in your future generation.
“Nigeria’s greatness is not as tied to her elders as it is tied to her youth. That is where our investments should be focussed on,” Atiku added.
In a statement, Atiku who contested against Buhari in the last presidential election, said: “By reforming the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria can raise the $29.6 billion the Buhari regime wants to borrow, and we will raise the money without going into debt.
“If we had taken that route, not only would we have attracted Foreign Direct Investment into Nigeria, but even better than investment, we would have attracted confidence in our economy, because it would have shown that we have a thinking leadership.”
Comparing Nigeria’s fiscal predicament with its neighbour, Atiku asked: “Why are foreign investors leaving Nigeria for Ghana? The answer is that Ghana, unlike Nigeria, has learnt how to divorce key institutions from politics. The Ghanaian central bank enjoys a degree of independence that our own CBN can only dream of under the prevailing atmosphere.
“You will not hear Ghana’s leaders give flippant interviews overseas about their plans for the Cedi, as Buhari has done in Europe about the naira. It rang alarm bells because it is not the job of the executive to interfere in the role of the reserve bank.
“Neither will you find Ghana’s leaders blatantly intimidating the judiciary by obviously setting up judges and invading courtrooms. Why would any investor come to Nigeria under such prevailing circumstances? Their thought would be that if they had industrial disputes, our courts, under this administration, could not be counted on to deliver impartial justice.”
Faulting the budget, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said in a statement: “It is indefensible for the Buhari presidency to propose a whopping N37 billion for the renovation of the National Assembly complex, which was built at the cost of N7 billion.”
It said the embedding of the N37 billion in the budget of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) leaves a burden of explanation on the president’s doorsteps.
