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Former governor of Anambra State and Peoples Democratic Party PDP 2019 vice presidential aspirant, Peter Obi, said past borrowings in the country since 2008 till date have not positively impacted the growth of Nigeria’s economy.
In an interview with Arise TV morning show on Thursday, Obi said the more the country borrows, the worse the economic projections.
He said it is because the government has been borrowing “recklessly for consumption”, with no clear cut business plan on how to spend the fund or invest it to generate money for repayment.
He stated, “Everybody knows my stand on borrowing. I am against reckless borrowing and borrowing for consumption. If you must borrow, you must be able to prove the business case of the borrowing convincingly, otherwise, you are mortgaging the future.
“All the funds that have been borrowed for long in the country have not impacted positively on the growth of Nigeria’s economy, meaning that they were reckless and intended for consumption.
“Even using Kenya and Ghana in Africa, for example, both are borrowing like us. But the difference is, in 2010, Ghana’s GDP was $32bn, with per-capita of $1320, in 2019 its GDP had grown to $64.5bn, with per-capita of $2200.
“In 2010, when we started…all these borrowings, our per capita was 2,300. Today, it is 1,920. So, something is missing. The more we borrow, the worse our economy, which means we are not investing this money.
“We have borrowed in Nigeria, call it from 2008 till date, we’ve been able to borrow, where our debt has now increased to almost a $100bn. What can we show for all these debt?
“No country borrows a quarter of its GDP without showing tangible investments or projects into which the borrowed funds would be deployed.”
