Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has faulted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government’s defense of rising debt profile.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku
said Tinubu’s administration glorifies what he described as ‘reckless
borrowing’ while many Nigerians sink deeper into hunger and despair.
Recall that some Nigerians have been raising concerns over
the country’s rising debt profile, which stood at around N154 trillion
according to the Debt Management Office.
This comes at the time the World Bank recently cancelled its
$717 million power sector debt to Nigeria.
A presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, in his remarks to
the rising debt profile concerns, said the country has not over-borrowed like
South Africa, Senegal, and other African countries.
Reacting, Atiku said the presidency has once again
demonstrated a dangerous disconnect from the grim realities confronting
ordinary Nigerians.
“It is both astonishing and insulting that at a time when
millions of Nigerians can barely afford one meal a day, when parents are
withdrawing children from school because of crushing hardship, when businesses
are collapsing under unbearable electricity tariffs and inflation, and when
entire communities are being overrun by terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers,
the Presidency is celebrating debt figures as though indebtedness itself were
an economic achievement,” the statement said.
“Across the country, farmers can no longer safely access
their farmlands because vast territories have effectively fallen under the
control of armed gangs and terrorists. Food production has declined sharply
because rural communities now live under constant threat of attacks,
abductions, and killings.
“The inevitable result is what Nigerians are currently
witnessing—astronomical food prices, widespread hunger, malnutrition, and
rising anger among citizens abandoned by their own government,” Atiku stated.
The former vice president said it was particularly shameful
that government officials continue to speak casually about debt while
insecurity has reached levels where citizens now budget for ransom payments the
same way they budget for school fees or rent.
“In many parts of Nigeria today, traveling by road has
become a gamble with death. Families go to bed praying not to receive midnight
calls announcing the abduction of loved ones.
“Villages are sacked almost routinely while those in power
appear more concerned about image management than decisive action. What exactly
are Nigerians benefiting from all these loans if insecurity continues to spread
and the economy continues to suffocate?” He queried.
Atiku further accused the Tinubu administration of
weaponizing propaganda in an attempt to distract Nigerians from the
catastrophic consequences of its economic mismanagement.
“No nation becomes prosperous by borrowing to finance
consumption, sustain wasteful government lifestyles, and paper over policy
failures.
“Countries that borrow responsibly do so to expand
productivity, create jobs, secure critical infrastructure, and improve the
welfare of their citizens. In Nigeria today, however, citizens see no
correlation between the mounting debt profile and improvement in their daily
lives,” he added.
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