Former Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has criticized President Bola Tinubu over the recent loan proposal.
Alhaji Abubakar expressed his concerns about the World Bank’s report, which shows Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA). This report comes as the government plans to borrow an additional N1.7 trillion to cover the 2024 budget shortfall through Euro Bonds, which is benchmarked at an unrealistic exchange rate of 1 USD to N800.
Abubakar in a post on his X handle, argued that this loan proposal will only sink Nigeria further into debt, and the National Assembly is complicit in this matter.
He questioned the need for more borrowing when, in July, Tinubu announced that the FIRS and Customs had collected record-high revenues to finance the budget.
“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.
“Nigeria is sinking further into debt, and the National Assembly has become an accomplice once more. In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the @FIRSNigeria and @CustomsNG under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the Budget. Why 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.
Abubakar believed that the government is not being transparent about their reasons for borrowing and that these loans are hurting Nigerians and the economy. He also criticizes the government’s voracious appetite for loans, which he believes is driven by corruption rather than a genuine need for development and infrastructure.
A report by Budgit, a budget watchdog, supports Abubakar’s concerns, revealing that the 2024 Budget is a mess due to the high level of pork associated with it. Abubakar feels a sense of personal agony seeing Nigeria back in the same debt conundrum that President Obasanjo’s administration had worked hard to get the country out of.
He there urged the government to exercise more caution and prudence in their loan dealings.
“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
“It is time to apply more caution and arithmetic to the loan frenzy”, he said.