Former vice president and the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has said the National Assembly should reconsider its decision to approve the Federal Government’s $29.6bn loan request.
Reacting to the Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who said that the 9th Senate would approve the request, Atiku said Buhari administration only required visionary leadership and business acumen to fund its expenditure without sinking the country in debt.
He said, “The money the Muhammadu Buhari administration wants to borrow to fund its Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) could be acquired without sinking the nation into further debt. All it requires is visionary leadership and business acumen.”
Atiku made this statement in a facebook post he titled, “Endless Borrowing Will Lead to Endless Sorrowing”, urging the National Assembly should reconsider its decision and not allow the government sink the country into more debt.
He said, “Our youth must have something better to inherit from us than unsustainable debt fuelled by insatiable greed. That is why I call on the Senate of the National Assembly to show loyalty to Nigeria and reconsider its decision with regards to approving Buhari’s $29.6bn loan request.”
Lamenting the huge cost of debt servicing on the country, Atiku added, “The fact that Nigeria currently budgets more money for debt servicing (₦2.7 trn), than we do on capital expenditure (₦2.4 trn) is already an indicator that we have borrowed more money than we can afford to borrow.”
