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The Vice Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Peter Obi, has lamented Nigeria’s rising debt profile owing to what he described as excessive and reckless borrowing by the Federal Government. Obi who spoke at The Morning Show on Arise Television yesterday, said the current debt position of the country calls for serious concern.
He explained that financial borrowing was not entirely bad if it was put into productive use. He said however that borrowing without a business case or convincing business plans only meant mortgaging the nation’s future.
“Everybody knows my stand on borrowing. I am against reckless borrowing and borrowing for consumption. If you must borrow, you must be able to convincingly prove to us the business case of the borrowing, otherwise you are mortgaging the future”, Obi said.
“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 meant for consumption. Even using Kenya & Ghana in Africa for example, both are borrowing like us. But see the difference,
In 2010, Ghana’s GDP was $32 billion with per capita of $1320, in 2019 is GDP had grown to $64.5 billion, with per capita of $2200. And for Kenya in 2010 had GDP of $42 billion, per capita of $912, in 2019 it was $87billion with per capita of $1700, while Nigeria had a per capita of $2320 in 2010 & in 2019 with all the borrowing it was $1920, Obi noted.
The former Anambra State governor warned that excessive financial borrowing would hit the country hard if it was not curtailed, adding that the country’s borrowed funds from 2008 till date stood at almost 100 billion, representing a quarter of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
