Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has, on behalf of the Federal Government, assured that the escalating debt stock, which rose from N21.12 trillion in 2015 to N24.39 trillion in 2018, is sustainable. 

Director General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, had, last week, revealed that Nigeria’s total public debt has climbed to N24.39 trillion; as at December 31, 2018.

She said the new figure represented a year-on-year growth rate of about 12.25 percent, adding that the report included data on the composition of public debt data and breakdown of the debt between the federal and the state governments, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party has, however, accused  the Federal Government of embarking on “borrowing spree.”

The PDP said since President  Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, there had  been  unexplained borrowings, leading to a rise in the debt profile  from N17.5 trillion in 2016 to N21.72 trillion in 2017 and N24.387 trillion  in 2018.

In his reaction, senatorUdoma, told State House Correspondents, after the Federal Exective Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, that government is doing everything to widen sources of income. 

Udoma conceded that the nation has revenue challenges but is hopeful that, if government’s attempts to widen the tax net succeeds, the debt situation will change. 

He said: “With regards to our debts, our debts are sustainable. We do have a revenue challenge and we are focusing on that. Once the revenues come up, it will be obvious that we don’t have a debt problem at all.

“We are working on a number of initiatives to increase our revenues. We are looking at initiatives to widening the tax pays. We are looking at initiatives to increase efficiency in collections.

“We are looking at a single window, which will help to increase efficiency, custom collections. We are looking at many different ways to improve revenues. 

“The debts are sustainable, every nation borrows. We are working on increasing our revenues.

“With regards to the budget, we are happy to see the focus of the National Assembly on the budget and we look forward to whenever it’s passed and the Executive receiving it.”