Peter Obi, former
governor of Anambra state, says Nigeria has nothing to show for all the funds
it has been borrowing for years.
Obi was reacting to
the senate’s approval of the $22.7 billion roan request by President Muhammadu
Buhari.
You can read the
federal government’s proposed spending plan on the loan here.
Speaking when he
featured on ARISE TV on Thursday, Obi said all previous borrowings have had no
positive impact on Nigeria’s economy.
He said the more the
country borrows, the worse the economic projections.
According to him,
this is because the government has been borrowing “recklessly for consumption”,
with no clear cut business plan on how to spend the fund or invest it to
generate money for repayment.
“Everybody knows my
stand on borrowing. I am against reckless borrowing and borrowing for
consumption. If you must borrow, you must be able to prove the business case of
the borrowing convincingly, otherwise, you are mortgaging the future,” Obi
said.
“All the funds that
have been borrowed for long in the country have not impacted positively on the
growth of Nigeria’s economy, meaning that they were reckless and intended for
consumption.
“Even using Kenya
& Ghana in Africa, for example, both are borrowing like us. But the
difference is, in 2010, Ghana’s GDP was 32 billion US Dollars, with per-capita
of $1320, in 2019 its GDP had grown to $64.5 billion, with per-capita of $2200.
“In 2010, when we
started…all these borrowings, our per capita was 2,300. Today, it is 1,920. So,
something is missing. The more we borrow, the worse our economy, which means we
are not investing this money.
“We have borrowed in
Nigeria, call it from 2008 till date, we’ve been able to borrow, where our debt
has now increased to almost a $100bn. What can we show for all these debt?
“No country borrows
a quarter of its GDP without showing tangible investments or projects into
which the borrowed funds would be deployed.”
Commenting on the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) report that
Nigeria recorded a 36% decline in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2018, Obi
said investors are “running away” from the country over issues of insecurity
and lawlessness.
He described the
situation, coupled with the fall in oil prices owing to the coronavirus
outbreak, as dire.
He advised the
federal government to cut down on expenses, while accusing political leaders of
not addressing the situation.
“Our position is
very very very serious. That is why they have set up an emergency team to look
at the issue,” he said.
“Have you tried to
cut down on your expenses. I’ve said it before that the cost of governance in
Nigeria is too much.
“What is even worse
is that people like me, the political leaders, are not even seeing that we are
in crisis and behaving and conducting ourselves as if we are in crisis. We are
still moving around with our long robes, long convoys, having all sorts of
parties as if things are normal.”
He also advised the
government against borrowing in foreign currency which it “has no control
over”.
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THANK GOD, SOMEONE IS SAYING SOMTHING REASONABLE. BABA, PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS ONE.
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