The Chief Executive Officer of CFG Advisory, Mr. Tilewa Adebajo has called on the Nigerian government to halt borrowing and focus more on debt restructuring in order to rebuild the economy.

Adebajo made the call on Morning Show of ARISE NEWS Channels, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said the official total debt profile of Nigeria is alarming.

Juxtaposing America’s Debt-to-GDP Ratio, which is over 101 per cent, to Nigeria’s Debt-to-GDP Ratio, which is 40 per cent, Adebajo said the US government spends a single digit of 8 percent to aid her debts, while Nigerian government spends double digits of 96 per cent to aid her debts.

“Nigeria therefore cannot continue to service debt, but should rather restructure her debt financing in order to grow the economy, before economies of the world force us to restructure our debt financing. Nigeria therefore needs internal debt restructuring as a matter of urgency,” He said

He advised the in-coming administration on how best to restructure Nigeria’s internal debt profile.

He said the government must first reduce the current double unit interest rates to a single digit interest rate, in order to grow the economy much faster. He said the current bank’s lending rate of 30 percent remained high and a declination to business growth.

“Nigeria must tame inflation in order to drop interest rate to a single digit. Nigeria must unlock the different financial restrictions and create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive,”

Speaking on the issue of economic stagnation, Adebajo said Nigeria should begin to focus on social infrastructure, healthcare and education.

According to him, Nigeria has no working refineries across the county, even though Nigeria is one of the largest producers of oil in the world.

“If only Nigeria can put its social and economic infrastructure in place, Nigeria can become a $1 trillion economy and compete with other economies. It is not rocket science to achieve it because the country has technology savvy organisations and individuals that can help the country achieve it. There are several institutions that the government needs to refocus and make them economically viable.

“Currently, our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is less than N1 trillion. What is saving Nigerian government is the inflow of start-up capital from around the world because most global Venture Capitalists (VCs), still believe in Nigeria and African startups and have continued to invest in startups in Nigeria and other African countries, and that is the reason Nigeria still remains the largest economy in Africa,” Adebajo said.
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