Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has slammed President Bola Tinubu’s appetite for loans following yesterday’s swift passage of the president’s fresh request to borrow N1.77 trillion (approximately $2.2 billion) in support of the N28.7 trillion 2024 budget.
In a statement, yesterday, Atiku condemned the proposed loan’s benchmark rate, stating: “What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of $1 to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stands at over N1,600 to $1.”
He accused the National Assembly of enabling the borrowing frenzy. “Nigeria is sinking further into debt, and the National Assembly has become an accomplice once more.”
He questioned Tinubu’s revenue claims, stating, “In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the Federal Inland Revenue Services and the Nigerian Customs Service under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing? There is something that they are not telling Nigerians.”
Atiku described the loans as detrimental to citizens, warning, “These loans are bone-crushing to Nigerians and bringing insufferable pressure on the economy, especially when they are not properly negotiated and utilised.”
He alleged corruption behind the borrowing spree, saying, “It is concerning that the voracious appetite for these humongous loans is powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs.”
Reflecting on past achievements, Atiku said: “I feel a sense of personal agony seeing that just a few years after the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo took our country out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum.”
Calling for fiscal responsibility, he concluded, “It is time to apply more caution and arithmetic to the loan frenzy.”
