Nigeria’s Debts Is Unproductive – Peter Obi

Former presidential contender Peter Obi claims the federal government spends N10 trillion on ‘unproductive’ loans.

Obi, the former governor of Anambra, expressed his alarm in a post on his X page on Tuesday, April 2.

“Last year, 2023, our total debt servicing for domestic debts stood at N4.4 trillion and that of external debt servicing was $3.5 billion, which is about N4.9 trillion. In effect, approximately N10 trillion is now spent on servicing unproductive debts,” he said.

According to Obi, what the country borrowed in a quarter is “about N10 trillion and what we spend on debt service, is also about N10 trillion.”

He stated that each of the amounts exceeds the total budgetary allocation for the “four highest priority areas,” namely defence (N3.25 trillion), education (N2.18 trillion), health (N1.33 trillion), and infrastructure (N1.32 trillion).

The Debt Management Office (DMO) said on March 22 that Nigeria’s overall public debt increased by N9 trillion in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.

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According to the DMO, the increase was principally caused by increased domestic borrowing by the federal government to partially pay the deficit in the 2024 budget.

Speaking further, Obi said; “More worrisome is the fact that there has been no corresponding visible usage or investments as required by the law, to show their impact on the nation’s development,” he said.

“At the end of the second quarter, Q2, of 2023, our debt stood at N87.9 trillion, which was very disturbing to us, because we were at a loss as to what we did with the huge debt, especially the over N23 trillion ways and means borrowed by the last administration, which for me, would have been the end of borrowing without any visible and corresponding investment and benefit to the nation.

“But sadly and more worrisome is the fact that between the end of the third quarter, Q3, and the end of the fourth quarter, Q4, of 2023, about N10 trillion was added to our debt portfolio , which has now taken our debts to N97.3 trillion, again, without any corresponding visible and verifiable utilization.This is the highest ever borrowed in one quarter.”

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli