Former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi says Nigeria has nothing
\nto show for all the money it had been borrowing for years.<\/p>\n
Obi was reacting to the Senate’s approval of the $22.7 billion loan
\nrequest by President Muhammadu Buhari.Speaking when he featured on ARISE
\nTV on Thursday, Obi said all previous borrowings have had no positive
\nimpact on Nigeria’s economy.<\/p>\n
He said the more the country borrows, the worse the economic
\nprojections.<\/p>\n
According to him, this is because the government has been borrowing
\n“recklessly for consumption,” with no clear cut business plan on how to
\nspend the fund or invest it to generate money for repayment.<\/p>\n
“Everybody knows my stand on borrowing. I am against reckless borrowing
\nand borrowing for consumption. If you must borrow, you must be able to
\nprove the business case of the borrowing convincingly, otherwise, you
\nare mortgaging the future,” Obi said.<\/p>\n
“All the funds that have been borrowed for long in the country have not
\nimpacted positively on the growth of Nigeria’s economy, meaning that
\nthey were reckless and intended for consumption.<\/p>\n
“Even using Kenya & Ghana in Africa, for example, both are borrowing
\nlike us. But the difference is, in 2010, Ghana’s GDP was 32 billion US
\nDollars, with per-capita of $1320, in 2019 its GDP had grown to $64.5
\nbillion, with per-capita of $2200.<\/p>\n
“In 2010, when we started…all these borrowings, our per capita was
\n2,300. Today, it is 1,920. So, something is missing. The more we borrow,
\nthe worse our economy, which means we are not investing this money.<\/p>\n
“We have borrowed in Nigeria, call it from 2008 till date, we’ve been
\nable to borrow, where our debt has now increased to almost a $100bn.
\nWhat can we show for all these debt?<\/p>\n
“No country borrows a quarter of its GDP without showing tangible
\ninvestments or projects into which the borrowed funds would be
\ndeployed.”<\/p>\n
Commenting on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s
\n(UNCTAD) report that Nigeria recorded a 36% decline in foreign direct
\ninvestment (FDI) in 2018, Obi said investors are “running away” from the
\ncountry over issues of insecurity and lawlessness.<\/p>\n
He described the situation, coupled with the fall in oil prices owing to
\nthe coronavirus outbreak, as dire.<\/p>\n
He advised the federal government to cut down on expenses, while
\naccusing political leaders of not addressing the situation.<\/p>\n
“Our position is very very very serious. That is why they have set up an
\nemergency team to look at the issue,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Have you tried to cut down on your expenses? I’ve said it before that
\nthe cost of governance in Nigeria is too much.<\/p>\n
“What is even worse is that people like me, the political leaders, are
\nnot even seeing that we are in crisis and behaving and conducting
\nourselves as if we are in crisis.<\/p>\n
“We are still moving around with our long robes, long convoys, having
\nall sorts of parties as if things are normal,” he said, advising the
\ngovernment against borrowing in foreign currency which it “has no
\ncontrol over.”<\/p>\n
Former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi says Nigeria has nothing to show for all the money it had been borrowing for years. Obi was reacting to the Senate’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n