ATIKU: Nigeria may collapse due to unsustainable debt profile

Former Vice President and peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar says Nigeria may “collapse as a result of unsustainable debt” given the current debt level of the country.

This was in reaction to the update released by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Wednesday July 11, which revealed that Nigeria’s total debt stock as of March 31, 2019, stood at N24.9 trillion compared to the N24.3 trillion as of December 31, 2018.

Atiku through his spokesman, Paul Ibe stated that Nigeria’s debt profile is now at the stage where “all genuine lovers of Nigeria ought to raise an alarm”

He attributed the increasing debt to four years of “profligate spending” and “irresponsible borrowing.”
“What could this junta have needed that amount for?” while adding that the dates covered by the latest debt figure “fall on the period of electioneering, when monies were freely distributed by officials of this government in the name of Tradermoni and other election gimmicks that were discontinued after the election,” he asked.

Speaking further, he stated that this is responsible for Nigeria’s emergence as the world capital of extreme poverty as well as the high rate of out-of-school children in the country.

“As someone who headed the National Economic Council that paid off Nigeria’s entire debt under the visionary leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar has the moral authority to call those who are turning Nigeria into a beggar nation to halt the drift into unsustainable borrowing,” 

“We cannot continue to borrow to pay salaries and support luxuries. Already, over 50% of our revenue is going towards debt servicing, not even debt repayments, the statement added.

“We raise this alarm as responsible citizens and call on other lovers of Nigeria to speak up as we have no other nation to call our home, but Nigeria.”