Coordinating Minister for the Economy (CME) and
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on
Saturday put the nation’s total debt stock at $63.7
billion, which encompasses multilateral as well as
domestic loans by successive federal and state
governments since 1960. She said that of this
figure, $21.8 billion was incurred under the
outgoing government of President Goodluck
Jonathan.
Her disclosure is coming on the heels of remarks
by Vice President-elect Yemi Osinbajo that the
outgoing administration of President Jonathan will
be leaving a huge debt of $60 billion for the
incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking during an interactive session with
finance correspondents in Abuja on Saturday, she
said it was wrong to blame the Jonathan
administration for the huge debt stock which she
said was accumulated over a long period of time
by several administrations.
Giving insight into the $21.8 billion debts incurred
under the Jonathan government the minister said
the debts were made up of $18 billion domestic
component and $3.7 billion external component.
According to her between 2007 and 2011, a debt
of $17.3 billion was recorded while between 2012
and 2015, the debt incurred stood at $18.1 billion.
She explained that the leap in the debt profile
between 2012 and 2015 was triggered off by the
53 per cent wage increase implemented by the
late Umaru Yar’Adua administration in a fell
swoop.
This, she said, skyrocketed government’s
borrowing from N524 billion to over N1 trillion in
order to meet the salary increase, adding that the
country’s domestic debt increased by $18.1 billion
mainly because of the 53 per cent increase in the
pay of civil and public servants.
The minister stated that at the time of the salary
increase, she was still with the World Bank, adding
that she had written and warned on the
consequences of acquiescing to such a huge
increase.
Absolving the Jonathan administration of blame,
the minister said the government had in deed
taken a careful and meticulous approach to
managing the nation’s debt, noting that the
present administration, for the first time in the
nation’s history, retired a domestic debt of N75
billion in 2013.
Commenting on the $63.7 billion debt stock, the
minister said $9.7 billion or 15 per cent is external
while $54 billion or 85 per cent represents
domestic debt. She added that the states’ share of
the $9.7 billion external debt is 33 per cent while
the states’ share of the $54 billion is 20 per cent.
Okonjo-Iweala pointed out that Nigeria still has
one of the lowest fiscal deficits in the world with
debt to GDP ratio of about 1.5 per cent of the
budget, adding that the government has used the
right tools to manage the economy and has only
borrowed at very low concessionary rates to fund
important infrastructure initiatives in agriculture,
aviation, power, roads, health, and water
resources, among others.
The minister added that where the country should
watch carefully is the debt service to revenue,
which is at 22 per cent.
She argued that it was wrong to “to characterise
the Jonathan administration as leaving $63 billion
debt since the country’s debt stock was
accumulated over a long time by several
administrations.

Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/okonjo-iweala-jonathan-incurred-21bn-of-63bn-national-debts/210139/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Lalasticlala seun make una copy this...fp things

Fuel scarcity, poor electricity...etc
You wonder where some of this money is going - mis management, looting and what have you.

ArchEnemy:
Fuel scarcity, poor electricity...etc
You wonder where some of this money is going - mis management, looting and what have you.

lolzzz if you actually read the news you will see where the money was put into use...

APC is looking for an excuse to their failure. As long as i am concerned,GEJ is the best Nigerian President and
Dr Okonjo Iweala is the architect of Nigeria economic revival and remain the best Finance minister nigeria ever had.

Chigold101:
lolzzz if you actually read the news you will see where the money was put into use...

you mean the salary increase? Can you beat your chest that some of the debt did not enter into some people's pockets?

ArchEnemy:
you mean the salary increase? Can you beat your chest that some of the debt did not enter into some people's pockets?

well my brother... One way of living a healthy life is trying not to prempt people.

The records are there for APCheats government to see when they take over power. The truth is that Okonjo Iwela has set the records straight because Pastor Osinbajo decided to lie to Nigerians about how GEJ incured over 60billion dollars debt...

Chigold101:
well my brother... One way of living a healthy life is trying not to prempt people.

The records are there for APCheats government to see when they take over power. The truth is that Okonjo Iwela has set the records straight because Pastor Osinbajo decided to lie to Nigerians about how GEJ incured over 60billion dollars debt...

bro, it is a summation of mis management by various governments and politicians that we are suffering from

How much did the last election campaign contribute to this debt? That's what i want to hear from okonjo.

IyaIode:
How much did the last election campaign contribute to this debt? That's what i want to hear from okonjo.

funny u... Is iweala a member of PDP campaign team?