Buhari has become so quick to forget that the borrower is forever a slave to the lender as he requests another loan amounting to $4 billion.
If the Senate approves this new loan request, every Nigerian will owe N164,393 which will be a major upgrade from the previous individual debt of N157,906 as at the last public debt stock.
To what end will the borrowing continue? At what point will the presidency decide to give up borrowing as a solution to all their financing problems? As of March 31st of 2021, the public debt stock of the Nigerian government was at N33.107trillion, which within the span of 5 months is likely to increase if the Senate approves the president’s request for another $4 billion loans.
In the letter from the president, he explained that the borrowing is to meet the needs of some “critical projects”. He mentioned that the loans would help to stimulate the economy and create job employment.
Although, the senate had earlier approved a loan request of $8.3billion and 490 million euros barely two months ago.
The presidency has to understand that borrowing shouldn’t always be their go-to solution whenever they need to fund a project or solve a problem.
They need to look into ways to increase revenue for funding projects and other programs. If they continue on this path, interest rates will increase and this will lead to a reduction in private investment.
In a Governor’s Forum hosted by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, they complained that the Federal Government is slowly pushing Nigeria into bankruptcy. It seems to be that everyone except the federal government is aware of the near dead-end situation we’re about to get into.
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At this point, I doubt anyone has great expectations about this government’s financial behavior.
I wonder what comes next once the current president’s term comes to an end, what happens after that? What happens to all the debt Nigeria is buried neck-deep into, almost totally drowned in it?
Will the next government be able to manage the crisis to come and prevent it from happening? Will they work to push the country out of its current financial state? Or will they like their predecessor blame it on the previous government and do nothing about it? I do not envy the next government as the food on their plate keeps getting fuller. The question however is; will they be the savior Nigeria awaits?
