The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has raised concerns over Nigeria’s growing debt profile, which according to the Debt Management Office, stands at N31.009 trillion.
CHRICED Executive Director Ibrahim Zikirullahi said in a statement that the country’s current debt profile could have serious consequences on its economy.
President Muhammadu Buhari had said at a virtual meeting with members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) that his administration applied for loans to finance infrastructure projects with a view to attracting foreign investments.
The Nigerian leader had written to the Senate and the House of Representatives, seeking approval for a fresh loan of $5.513 billion.
In a letter read by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at a plenary in late May, the president said the loan was to finance the 2020 budget deficit, financing of critical projects, and supporting some states of the federation.
‘We have so many challenges with infrastructure. We just have to take loans to do roads, rail and power so that investors will find us attractive and come here to put their money’, Buhari said at the virtual meeting in September.
However, CHRICED argued that the Buhari-led administration has plunged the nation further into debt by borrowing from domestic and foreign sources.
‘CHRICED is of the considered position that this level of debilitating and unsustainable debt is a direct threat to Nigeria’s democracy, national stability and the survival of current and future generations of citizens’, the statement read.
‘Nigeria’s debt situation is very worrisome because as it stands, it will hobble the ability of future governments with the sincerity to deliver the concrete gains of democracy to the citizens of the country.
‘Apart from a few projects, which completion have lingered on interminably, Nigerians have had very little to show for the huge debt, which successive governments have plunged the country into’.
A large chunk of the proposed annual budget for 2021 is understood to be committed to debt servicing (N3.124 trillion).
The implication is that key areas like education (N127 billion), health care (N132 billion), and other social infrastructures will not receive adequate attention.
‘Despite the huge borrowing, infrastructure in the power sector has remained as rudimentary as ever’, the statement added.
‘This would be seen in the frequent collapse of the national grid, leaving citizens in most parts of the country in perpetual darkness. The lamentable story is also the same with respect to major highways, which have become death traps despite Nigeria’s heavy borrowing from domestic and external sources.
CHRICED urged Nigerians to find legal and legitimate means to pressure the government to cut down on borrowing to avoid exhausting the nation’s finances.
Source: CHRICED
Photo source: Femi Adesina
