By Chimezie Godfrey
As the Federal Government concludes plans to borrow another N11 trillion in 2023, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) New Generation has lamented that Nigeria cannot survive another year of the All Progressives Congress (APC) misadventure.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Lead spokesperson PDP Youth Campaign Council, Dare Akinniyi, said Nigeria is in a deep mess.
According to Akinniyi, if the Federal Government is allowed to continue borrowing at the speed it has in the last seven years under the APC-led government, then, it portends great dangers for the country.
“Just a few days ago, August 29, The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed that they will have to ‘sell national assets’ to finance the budget deficit in 2023. It is unfortunate,” he lamented.
Akinniyi, who also doubles as the Director, Media and Strategy of PDP New Generation, also decried the rubber-stamp nature of the National Assembly to always approve President Buhari’s requests for loans.
“On July 7, 2021, the upper chamber approved a loan request of ₦2.343 trillion, approximately $6 billion and another $8.3 billion and €490 million. The ever ready, rubber stamp Senate, will do nothing to challenge President Buhari’s appetite for borrowing. Why are we borrowing, when the US is about to release another $23 million looted by Abacha? If we were to change $23 million to Naira at $1 – 422.88 Naira, then that is ₦9,726,240,000.00.
“Do you know asides from the borrowing from China, France, and Germany, APC met an Excess Crude Account of $2.1 billion in 2015, however, now it has been depleted to $376,655. Despite the massive depletion of the ECA, APC has even borrowed more, but what can we show for this penchant for borrowing? ASUU is still on strike, as their demands cannot be met while Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment is asking parents to start begging ASUU.
“Nigeria is still battling rising insecurity, kidnapping and banditry – What a sad case for the giant of Africa,” he lamented.
“I calculated that every year, Nigeria is losing revenue due to crude oil theft. In the first quarter of 2022, $1 billion was lost, Gbenga Komolafe, the Head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) informed Nigerians recently. More worrisome, the National Bureau of Statistics has informed us that more than 82 million Nigerians live on less than $1 a day in 2020. These are real reasons why we need to Reset Nigeria right now! Our Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has advised against excessive borrowing and a need to have a lean government. We can’t survive under this status of a ‘Perpetual Borrower’,” he said.
