Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed worries over the present administrations tendency to rush headlong into decisions or actions without careful contemplation.
Atiku, also warned President Muhammadu Buhari to arrest Nigeria’s slide into complete financial ruin.
Atiku has in the past expressed concerns about the country’s worrying debt profile and advised the government to cut down on unnecessary expenditure.
In a statement on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, he expressed shock at Nigeria’s Q1 2020 financial reports in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy report released by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
He said Nigeria is in a debt crisis where it is already spending a lot on debt servicing, while the principal remains untouched.
“We are at a precipice. If our revenue figures do not go up, and go up quickly, Nigeria risks a situation where our revenue cannot even sustain our debt servicing obligations.
“Meaning that we may become insolvent, and our creditors may foreclose on us, as has occurred in Sri Lanka and the Maldives,” he said.
Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has once again warned President Muhammadu Buhari to arrest Nigeria’s slide into complete financial ruin.
Atiku has recently warned about the country’s worrying debt profile and advised the government to cut down on unnecessary expenditure.
The former vice president lamented that Nigeria has squandered opportunities of even future generations with the huge debt profile.
He reiterated his call for the Buhari government to desist from indiscriminate lending, and implement measures to both increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
Atiku called on the Federal Government to put an end to wasteful projects such as the maintenance of the Presidential Air Fleet, a planned N27 billion renovation of the National Assembly, expensive cars for top government officials, overseas travels and treatments, and the N4.6 billion Presidential Villa maintenance budget.
He said, “The Federal Government cannot continue to justify these unsustainable numbers by pointing at Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio. That is only half the picture.
“Our debt to revenue ratio paints a much more realistic portrait of our financial situation, especially as our revenues are majorly tied to a mono-product, oil and gas, which are very vulnerable to global shocks.
“Again, I warn that Nigeria is facing a crisis, and we cannot continue to keep up appearances by taking out more loans to prop up our economy.
“That will amount not just to robbing Peter to pay Paul, but to robbing our children to pay for our greed!”
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