By Naomi Sharang
The Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mr Dumebi Kachikwu, says he will Nigeria’s external debt if elected.
Kachikwu who stated this during the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja said that Nigeria was indebted because of “some unpatriotic elements”.
“We have people who have collected their boarding passes; raised check out of this world who are taking debts and loans on behalf of the future generations.
“They have nothing at stake by taking these loans. They know that you will pay, our children will pay and they will not be here. So they get a kickback from the loans they take.
“I will ensure that I review every debt; those that were not properly done will be renegotiated with a view to paying those debts.
“But debts that are properly gotten will be paid. So when we negotiate debts so we have a longer period of time to pay the debts. I will start ensuring that the economy is doing better.”
Kachikwu further said that he would also get the 60 million “odd people” who are not working to start working.
”I will ensure that Nigeria becomes the industrial powerhouse of the world.
“China said to themselves, we want to be the industrial powerhouse of the world, they did that.
“We must say to ourselves, what do we want to be known for in the year 2023? What’s the future of Nigeria because when you define your vision, that’s when you can plan for that vision.
“When we say that this is what we want to do, this is when we can align our educational plan which is the basis of what we are doing to the vision that we have.”
He said that when all these were done and when the country realised that the people were the greatest asset and when the middle class was built to a robust level, then there would be a multiplier effect on the country.
“Once we have more people working and we start generating more revenue from taxation and from individuals and from businesses, we are in a better position to pay our legitimate debts,” Kachikwu said.(NAN
