₦airaland Forum

Dedij:
And people was busy accusing Jagaban of working with Wike

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has declared that the 2027 general elections will serve as a referendum on President Bola Tinubu’s administration.


His media adviser, Mazi Paul Ibe, made this assertion in a chat with Vanguard in Abuja on Monday night while responding to recent allegations by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The APC had accused Atiku of seeking to reposition the opposition for selfish gains, claiming he aimed to regain access to state resources.

Ibe dismissed these allegations, stating that Atiku’s efforts were driven by Nigerians’ aspirations for a better life.

“It’s clear that these people were never prepared for governance. All they’re interested in is politics.


“They’ve gone to extreme lengths to ensure the demise of progress. Every action they’ve taken contradicts the very essence of democracy,” he said.

Ibe criticised the Tinubu administration’s inefficiency, citing the completion of only 30 kilometres of a 700-kilometre road in two years as an example.

“They rolled out all the drums and celebrated completing a mere 4% of the project. Isn’t that absurd? Such irresponsibility! The money spent on that celebration could have been used to build several more kilometres of that road,” he exclaimed.

Highlighting Nigeria’s worsening socio-economic conditions, Ibe noted that the country has become the poverty capital of the world and now leads Africa in child malnutrition.


“People are hungry. For the first time, even those who can afford to buy a ram for Eid can be counted on one hand. Someone told me people are pooling money together just to buy a ram and partake in the celebration,” he lamented.


Ibe emphasised that Atiku’s actions were driven by Nigerians’ desire for a better life, not personal gain.


“His Excellency’s efforts are driven by Nigerians’ yearnings for a better life, not because he wants to regain access to state resources. Absolutely not,” he said.

He also defended Atiku’s integrity, contrasting his business achievements with the records of his critics.

“Where were these critics when His Excellency was already well-established long before democracy began in 1999? Atiku has run multi-million-dollar businesses, employed people, and invested his own resources into his campaigns. He’s not looking to exploit state funds like they are,” Ibe stated.


He urges the APC to focus on governance rather than obsessing over Atiku’s activities.


“It’s time they used the remainder of their term to focus on improving Nigerians’ lives instead of obsessing over what Atiku Abubakar is or isn’t doing,” he said.

The 2027 elections, Ibe asserted, would be a decisive moment for Nigeria.

“The next election will be between Tinubu and the rest of Nigeria,” he declared.

Three prominent opposition figures — former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and former governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) — have come down hard on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the worsening insecurity, hunger, and poverty in the country, vowing to stop his re-election bid in 2027.

They spoke at the weekend during a public lecture themed “Weaponisation of Poverty as a Means of Underdevelopment: A Case Study of Nigeria” to mark Amaechi’s 60th birthday.

Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused the Tinubu administration of deliberately weaponising poverty as a tool of political control.

“You may call me a conspirator, you may call me anything,” Atiku said. “That is why we are in this alliance — to make sure we don’t allow them to continue weaponising poverty.”


He said the administration had failed to meet expectations and was using poverty as a political tool.

“What we are experiencing in Nigeria today is state-sanctioned weaponisation of poverty,” he declared.

“When I was growing up in the North, Kano State was the most prosperous. After secondary school, I was posted there. I never saw people sleeping outside — not under bridges, not in front of shops.

“But recently, during a visit to Kano, I saw people sleeping everywhere — under bridges, on the streets — driven out by poverty and insecurity.

“There’s a state agency in Kano that provides support to such people. They began their work — relocating people from under bridges, enlightening them, helping them. What happened? They were called to a meeting and told to stop,” he added.”


Amaechi: Hunger doesn’t know tribe or religion

Also speaking at the event, Amaechi said poverty and insecurity were closely linked and challenged the opposition to rise to the occasion in 2027.

“We are all hungry, all of us are. If you are not hungry, I am. For us in the opposition, if we are serious, we can remove this man from power. We must unite and be committed if we want to get out of this problem. For the opposition to lead us out of this problem, we must all agree to submit ourselves to the interest of the nation first before that of ourselves”, he said.


He added, “Hunger doesn’t recognise tribe or religion. This government has made people poorer, and that has increased the level of insecurity and crime in society.”

Amaechi noted that the power to remove underperforming leaders lies with the people, not politicians.

“Nigerians must know that the power resides with them. If we are serious about change, the people have the power to make it happen.”

He said his refusal to support Tinubu during the 2023 election stemmed from his belief that Tinubu lacked the capacity to lead.


“I told Tinubu in Yola: I will not support you; I will not work for you. And I didn’t. I didn’t vote for him. It was about capacity.

“Some of us voted along ethnic and religious lines. Innocent, uneducated people are manipulated to vote based on ethnicity and religion — and that’s why we are where we are.”

He criticised the political class for failing the people, saying, “After events like this, we go behind closed doors to plot how to grab power. No Nigerian leader truly cares about the people. The benefits of the fuel subsidy removal? They’re sitting in the pockets of the elite.”


Amaechi expressed embarrassment at Nigeria’s international image, saying carrying the Nigerian passport has become burdensome.

“I’m ashamed. I was detained in Germany for 30 minutes. I had done nothing wrong. I was going for a medical check-up. I showed them my return ticket, yet they said, ‘Wait’. Just because I carried a green passport.”

On his part, former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, described Nigeria’s current condition as the worst since the country’s amalgamation in 1914.

“Nigeria is in its biggest trouble since 1914. That’s why we are working and conspiring to build a coalition to take Nigeria back on track — because right now, it is off track,” he said.


He blamed the deterioration on “urban bandits” — leaders who have seized power without competence or vision.

“We’ve allowed bandits, not the ones in the bush but those in urban areas — the so-called urban bandits — to take over leadership.

“Our biggest problem is that we hand over power to people who have no idea what to do. They only know how to seize power but not what to do with it afterwards.”

He called on Nigerians to elect leaders with the “competence, capability, capacity, and commitment” to move the country forward.

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, who also attended the lecture, praised Amaechi’s courage during the APC presidential primaries in 2022, where he refused to step down for Tinubu.

“The main reason I had to be here today is because I admire Rotimi Amaechi’s fighting spirit. It’s consistent,” Soyinka said.

He recalled watching the APC primary election live from Abu Dhabi and being moved by Amaechi’s stance.

“I wasn’t in Nigeria, but I followed the primary on TV because I wanted to witness the drama. And I’m glad I did.

“It gave me great, almost mischievous pleasure—rascally if you like—to see the incumbent president being given a dose of his own medicine.”

Soyinka compared Amaechi’s defiance to Tinubu’s own refusal to step down during the Obasanjo era.

[b]“While others were falling over themselves conceding, one man stood up and said, ‘No, I’m not conceding.’ That was Rotimi Amaechi. And I thought, this is what democracy is all about.”

Tinubu [/b]eventually emerged as the APC flagbearer, polling 1,271 votes to defeat 13 other aspirants. Amaechi came second with 316 votes.

Also speaking, the Emir of Kano and former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said he only truly understood the scale of poverty after ascending the throne.

“Many of Nigeria’s elites have no real idea what poverty is,” he said. “As an economist and a former CBN governor, I saw the numbers. But I didn’t know poverty until I became Emir.

“You go to the villages and see the water they drink, the houses they live in — two-block classrooms with no roofs. Do we love the people, or do we just love ruling over them?

“Our priorities are upside down. We build overpasses and underpasses in the cities for ourselves, while those in rural areas can’t even reach a clinic. We are in crisis. Our focus should be: how do we get out?”

He urged those in leadership to show empathy and reflect on the human impact of their decisions.


Shine your eyes, Dickson tells coalition

But former Bayelsa governor and serving senator, Seriake Dickson, has advised opposition leaders to be more strategic and unified as they attempt to unseat Tinubu in 2027.


“When I came in here and climbing up here, I have seen a lot of you and as my brother El-Rufai has said, there are a number of you who are expert conspirators, who know how to assemble coalitions and then take over governments as you did to my party in 2015.

“And when you did so, particularly to a clueless government, so-called. Now, 11 years down the line, we thought that there would have been no weaponisation of poverty and that all the challenges of Nigeria would have been gone.

“But 11 years down the line, here we are, assembled to still bemoan the fate of our country.

“And the only advice I can give, not being a professional coalition builder and conspirator, as some of you are, is that this time, shine your eyes. As you live coalition and conspire, shine your eyes, “Dickson said.



APC fires back: Opposition lacks the capacity

In its response, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) dismissed the opposition’s claims, saying they lack both the capacity and credibility to unseat President Tinubu.

APC National Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, in a phone interview with Daily Trust, dismissed the allegations against the Tinubu-led government as politically motivated and lacking objectivity.


“When people speak out of anger because they are aggrieved, their assessments cannot be objective or fair,” he said.

“These are people with grudges against the current administration. Their judgement cannot withstand the test of conscience.”

He said President Tinubu remains focused on reforming the country.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a reformer, and he has promised to deliver reforms that will lead Nigeria to prosperity.

“Yes, some people will feel offended in the process — that’s expected. But if the larger population stands to benefit, then so be it.”


Efforts to get an official response from the Presidency were unsuccessful. Calls and messages sent to the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and the Special Adviser on Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala, went unanswered.

ALTERNATEID:
This is a fake group. There is no Afenifere headed by Oladipo Olaotan with one Faloye as publicity Secretary. Afenifere is headed by Baba Fasoranti and assisted by Olu Falae

President Bola Tinubu’s fresh request to the National Assembly to approve new external loans totalling $24.14 billion is tiresome.

Once again, it raises concerns that Nigeria is hurtling towards a fiscal precipice, with public debt increasing at an alarming rate even as government revenues show signs of recovery.

The proposed loans could balloon Nigeria’s total public debt to an astounding N182.91 trillion (approximately $69.92 billion) by 2026.

This request follows a 52.7 per cent surge in external debt and a 48.58 per cent year-on-year increase in total debt in 2024, driven by a combination of relentless borrowing, a steep depreciation of the naira, and insufficient financial governance.



The numbers paint a stark picture. At the current exchange rate of N1,586.15 to the dollar (as of 30 May), the proposed new loans would add N38.28 trillion to Nigeria’s debt stock, representing a 26.43 per cent jump from the country’s already daunting N144.67 trillion debt as of December 2024.

Tinubu explained that the external borrowing plan forms part of the 2025–2026 rolling borrowing programme and is aimed at supporting key sectors: infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare, education, water resources, security, and public finance reforms.

He noted that the projects covered by the plan had undergone technical and economic appraisals and were selected for their potential to stimulate growth, generate jobs, and improve public service delivery.


However, the underlying fiscal reality is that debt servicing now consumes a lion’s share of national resources, leaving little room for meaningful capital investment.

In 2024 alone, the naira’s collapse inflated the country’s external debt by 83.89 per cent, transforming what should be manageable currency risks into looming fiscal crises.

The situation is further complicated by an impending $1.11 billion Eurobond repayment due in November 2025, which threatens to deplete the country’s foreign reserves.

There are concerns that the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio, once a point of relative comfort, has surged to 52.52 per cent, breaching the government’s own 40 per cent threshold. This could trigger sovereign credit downgrades and spook investors.

Nigeria’s debt trajectory has trended upwards over time. The Federal Government’s borrowings increased by 658 per cent between 1999 and 2021, from N3.55 trillion to N26.91 trillion, according to BudgIT.

Under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, foreign debt increased by more than 291 per cent.

In May 2023, Nigeria’s public debt stood at N87.38 trillion (approximately $55.2 billion), but it rose rapidly to N144.67 trillion (a 60.3 per cent increase) by the end of 2024, equivalent to approximately N629,000 per person.


The 2025 budget reflects a fiscal deficit of N13.08 trillion, constituting approximately 38 per cent of the Federal Government’s revenues, 3.87 per cent of estimated GDP, and 23 per cent of total expenditure, alongside a projected debt servicing obligation of N14.32 trillion.

The African Development Bank flagged Nigeria’s rising debt costs a week ago, stating that the country is projected to spend 75 per cent of its revenues on interest payments in 2025.

This debt spiral is made even more dangerous by a glaring deficit in accountability. Past borrowings have failed to deliver quality schools, healthcare facilities, roads, rail, and power infrastructure.

Scepticism about the government’s borrowing spree is fuelled by a lack of transparency and persistent questions about the use of previous loans.

Budget implementation reports have not been published since the second quarter of 2024, leaving the public and watchdog organisations in the dark about how borrowed funds are being spent.


The $3.4 billion loan secured from the IMF at the height of the COVID-19 crisis is shrouded in mystery, with no comprehensive accounting provided to date.

Given these realities, Nigeria cannot continue to rely on debt-based funding as its primary development strategy. Pivoting towards asset-based solutions and greater private sector involvement offers a path out of the current quagmire.

The NNPC is sitting on $300 billion in assets. Given its long history of inefficiency, a substantial divestment and complete sale of its problematic refineries is overdue. This can raise cash for infrastructure and onboard private investors to help give the company new energy and direction. Other assets, such as Ajaokuta Steel, should be sold without delay.

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria must renew efforts to recover N4 trillion in delinquent debt acquired from banks at the government’s expense.

The government’s proposed $2 billion domestic dollar bond, if managed prudently, could deepen local capital markets and reduce dependence on volatile external funding.

The tax reforms provide opportunities to mobilise domestic financial resources more effectively and move the tax-to-GDP ratio to the target of 18 per cent, up from the 13.5 per cent cited by Tinubu in his midterm report. The target implementation date of July is just a month away. Parliament should speed up the passage process.

The recent rebound in oil production to 1.5 million barrels per day in April offers some revenue upside, but this is no windfall as crude prices remain volatile, and forward crude sales, estimated at $21.5 billion since 2019, have maturity dates extending as far as 2034.

In seeking to assuage fears, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, assured last week that the administration is considering a self-financing infrastructure model. This model will see major national projects like ports, roads, and solar power plants concessioned to private operators, with proceeds used to defray project-related debt.

He pointed to expansion plans for Nigeria’s ports and solar projects as examples of revenue-generating initiatives that will bring in more business and user charges to help offset loan costs. This thinking is welcome, but it is private sector participation that can bring discipline, innovation, and accountability.

India, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia have developed alternative models for infrastructure funding, including project finance, PPPs, private equity, corporate bonds, and sukuk, tailored to suit their specific needs.

To bridge Nigeria’s estimated $3 trillion infrastructure deficit in the long term, firm legal guarantees and fully transparent concession terms will be required to attract private capital, especially from offshore entities.

Lack of transparency, inadequate risk assessment, and poor stakeholder engagement led to the failure of the landmark Lekki-Epe Expressway concession. The MM2 Airport concession was not fully implemented, with the hospitality components suspended due to legal wranglings.

There is little clarity around the Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, designed to attract private capital for the construction of nine major highways at a cost of N1.5 trillion. Nigeria must substantially de-risk the investment climate to attract capital inflows.

Ultimately, fiscal discipline must become a national imperative. The government cannot justify further borrowing despite its shrinking fiscal space while supporting a bloated cabinet, duplicative ministries, departments, and agencies, a high-maintenance legislature, multitudes of political aides at national and sub-national levels, needless foreign trips, mile-long motorcades, and other fripperies.

A zero-based budgeting system can ensure that every financial allocation is substantiated and aligned with national objectives.

Anti-corruption efforts must be ramped up to plug loopholes and leakages in public finances and ensure value for money in government spending.

The Federal Government needs to shed some weight and responsibilities by consolidating MDAs in line with the Steven Oronsaye Panel report and pushing for fiscal federalism anchored on resource control and the concomitant realignment that will enable states to drive significant infrastructure development.

Regardless of attempts at justifying additional borrowing, planned or actual, the government must be acutely aware that Nigeria cannot afford to slip into an unsustainable debt crisis.

Nigeria’s public refineries, under perpetual government control, remain trapped in a cycle of dormancy and inefficiency. At best, they operate sporadically, with the country squandering resources on endless rehabilitation efforts that yield little progress.

This reality was underscored again late in May when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited announced that it had shut down the old Port Harcourt Refinery in Eleme, Rivers State, for another round of maintenance.

Indeed, when the NNPC announced the restart of the 60,000 barrels per day PH Refinery in November 2024, many Nigerians received the news with scepticism. Industry watchers argued at the time that the restart was merely window dressing rather than actual progress.

Now, six months later, recent developments have validated those doubts. Despite over $1.5 billion spent on refurbishment, the refinery was shuttered for “planned maintenance and sustainability assessment”. What is the sense in spending so much without result? This calls for a rethink.

Typically, the Turn Around Maintenance Schedule for the plant should be 30 months after the restart, not six. This abrupt shutdown has raised concerns, especially as it followed reports that the refinery was only blending naphtha into diesel, while questions hung over its actual petrol production.

For three decades, Nigeria has depended on petrol imports, incurring enormous costs, while its four public refineries, with a combined nameplate capacity of 445,000 bpd, remained largely inactive.

The Warri Refinery, which has a capacity of 125,000 bpd, faced a similar fate. After a brief resumption of operations in December 2024, it shut down again within a month.

In December 2024, the NNPC announced the return of production at the refinery; however, a month later, it was reportedly closed once more.

Yet, the Federal Government said it had provided $1.55 billion for the rehabilitation of the PH Refinery, $740,669 for the Kaduna Refinery, and $656,963 for the Warri Refinery. This is money badly spent.

Sadly, the epileptic performance of the Warri and PH refineries evokes memories of past failures, and there are genuine fears that the funds spent on rehabilitation may have been wasted once again.

The refineries’ history is littered with failed TAM projects and repeated waste of taxpayer funds on ventures that have become white elephants. It is increasingly clear that, under government ownership, these refineries are unlikely to ever operate efficiently.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo appeared to have realised this when, towards the end of his second term in 2007, his government sold a 51 per cent stake in the two PH refineries at $561 million to the Bluestar Consortium. The consortium paid $300 million upfront.

However, Obasanjo’s successor, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, reversed the sale. The cancellation has proved to be a bad and costly decision.

Different estimates suggest that Nigeria has spent over $20 billion in rehabilitating the refineries in the past 30 years, with nothing to show for it.


Conversely, billionaire Aliko Dangote built his 650,000-bpd refinery with a similar sum, highlighting the scale of public sector inefficiency.

Given the failure of the government to run the refineries efficiently over the years, the logical solution is full privatisation of these entities and to end the relentless drain on the country’s resources.

The transformation of the Eleme Petrochemicals plant post-privatisation strengthens the argument for this course of action.

Before it was sold in 2006, the Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited was a huge loss-making subsidiary of the NNPC. Initial assessments indicated that EPCL had an untenable debt burden, needed capital investment, and would not be profitable for its buyer for several years.

However, the turnaround was instant after 75 per cent of the company’s shares were sold to the Indorama Group, which immediately embarked upon a $130 million turnaround maintenance and capital investment programme, returning the facility to operation within four months. It paid its shareholders dividends of N9.5 billion one year after privatisation.


The Nigeria LNG Limited is another success story. With a mixed ownership structure that sees the NNPC owning 49 per cent of the shares and Shell, 25.6 per cent, Total, 15 per cent, and Eni, 10.4 per cent, the company has thrived under astute private capital management since its inauguration in 1999.

The company has regularly paid dividends annually to the Federal Government and its other shareholders and plans to expand its production capacity from 22 million metric tonnes per annum to 30MMT per annum.


With the downstream sector now deregulated, the market is ripe for investment. There would be no shortage of bidders if the government opts to privatise the refineries.

As a major oil producer, Nigeria should be a regional refining hub, supplying petroleum products across West Africa. The Dangote Refinery’s recent opening moves the country closer to this goal.

Privatising the four government refineries would be a significant step towards refining over 1 million bpd domestically. It will bolster government finances and relieve it of the burden of looking for scarce dollars to fix the refineries.

Privatising the refineries will engender the much-needed competition in the crude refining sub-sector of the oil industry. With a 650,000-bpd capacity and the government refineries’ inactivity, the Dangote Refinery has almost become a monopoly.

Thus, to create a truly competitive crude refining industry, the Federal Government needs to put its refineries in a position to compete through privatisation.

Adequate support must be given to the 200,000 bpd BUA Refinery under construction and the planned 100,000 bpd Midoil Refinery to succeed in creating a robust, competitive industry.

In 2023, Americans consumed 376 million gallons of petrol daily. The private sector provided all this as the US government owned none of the 132 refineries in operation there. The United Kingdom and Canada also depend on the private sector refining for petroleum products.

Remarkably, Singapore, which produces crude oil of 20,170 bpd, refines 1.5 million bpd. President Bola Tinubu should learn from these countries.

However, the privatisation effort must be transparent and undergo serious due diligence. Buyers must be reputable foreign or local investors involved in the crude refining business.

Asset strippers, carpet baggers, and other investors who are not in that line of business should be excluded.

Nigeria must break the cycle of repeating past mistakes. The government has demonstrated a lack of discipline and accountability necessary for managing state-owned enterprises successfully.

The parent company of the refineries, the NNPC, should be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange if the Federal Government is serious about pursuing transparency and sector efficiency.

NNPC’s peers, such as Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, Brazil’s Petrobras, Malaysia’s Petronas, and others, are listed companies.

The NNPC was conservatively valued at $300 billion as of December 2024. An IPO has the potential to raise billions for investments in infrastructure and social goods, apart from injecting strong management.


Crucially, the government must thoroughly investigate why billions of dollars have been spent with so little to show for it. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it has commenced investigations into the tenure of former NNPC chief Mele Kyari, over allegations of abuse of office and misappropriation of funds. Kyari insists his hands are clean.

In May, the anti-graft agency said it had discovered a whopping N80 billion in a bank account linked to a recently sacked managing director of a government refinery. All those found culpable should face appropriate sanctions.

Peterobiisathie:
Owobokiri Bobloco
You guys should advocate for foreign prisoners' right to vote so that Peter Obi’s chance in 2027 can be bright

Beremx:
The political gang up by the northern leaders against Tinubu is gathering momentum.

2027 elections will be an interesting one.

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has urged President Bola Tinubu to demonstrate leadership by ensuring Nigeria complies with the judgments of the ECOWAS Court of Justice.

Falana spoke while reacting to remarks made by Tinubu during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Lagos.

DAILY POST reports that Tinubu, who chairs the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, had praised the regional body’s commitment to democratic norms, citing institutions like the ECOWAS Parliament and Court of Justice as key pillars of accountability and people-centred governance.

However, Falana, a former President of the West African Bar Association, WABA, disagreed, saying, “With respect, the ECOWAS leaders have failed to uphold democratic norms and the rule of law. Hence, the region continues to witness unconstitutional changes of government.”

The senior lawyer particularly condemned the disregard for the ECOWAS Court rulings, citing a record number of unenforced judgments across the region.

According to him, as of December 2024, Nigeria tops the list with 44 unenforced judgments, followed by Togo (27), Guinea (15), Mali (10), Sierra Leone (9), and several others.

Falana further pointed out the irony that several former heads of state — including Charles Taylor (Liberia), Laurent Gbagbo (Côte d’Ivoire), Boni Yayi (Benin), Mamadou Tanja (Niger), and Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso) — who once ignored the Court’s rulings later turned to the same institution for protection of their human rights after leaving office.

“In 2014, Nigeria designated the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice as the competent authority for enforcing ECOWAS Court judgments. It is embarrassing that Nigeria, under President Tinubu’s leadership as ECOWAS Chairman, is leading the list of violators,” Falana stated.

He tasked Tinubu to immediately instruct the Attorney-General, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to enforce all outstanding ECOWAS Court judgments, describing it as a necessary step to restore the nation’s credibility and reinforce ECOWAS’s legal framework.

ucheheart:
Someone is speaking the truth finally

Peterobiisathie:
Owobokiri it has gotten to the promise land and what will you do?

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has slammed President Bola Tinubu’s administration over plans to secure fresh external and domestic loans totaling over $24 billion.

In a statement released on Thursday, Atiku described the borrowing as “reckless and dangerous,” warning that it will mortgage Nigeria’s future and burden unborn generations with unsustainable debt.

President Tinubu’s proposed borrowing includes $21.54 billion, €2.19 billion, and ¥15 billion in fresh loans and according to Atiku, this amount represents more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s total foreign exchange reserves and would push the country’s total public debt from the current N144.7 trillion to N183 trillion.

Atiku said the public debt stood at $94 billion (N144.7 trillion) as of December 31, 2024 and that this borrowing comes while Nigeria’s debt burden is already at alarming levels.

Atiku said: “The announcement by the Tinubu-led APC government to pursue fresh external and domestic loans is a reckless and dangerous move that threatens the future of Nigeria and generations yet unborn.

“Despite national outrage, this administration is pushing ahead with plans to borrow $21.54 billion, €2.19 billion, and ¥15 billion — an equivalent of over $24 billion, which is more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s total foreign exchange reserves. This borrowing spree will raise our total public debt from N144.7 trillion to a crushing N183 trillion.

“This move comes while Nigeria’s debt burden is already at alarming levels. As of December 31, 2024, public debt stood at $94 billion (N144.7 trillion). Since President Tinubu assumed office in 2023, public debt has jumped by 65.6 per cent.

“Under the APC-led administration since 2015, public debt has ballooned by 1,048 per cent, from N12.6 trillion to N144.7 trillion. The debt-to-GDP ratio has exceeded 50 per cent. The debt-service-to-revenue ratio is over 130 per cent, meaning the government now spends more on repaying loans than it earns

“This is not just unsustainable. It is immoral. The Tinubu administration is borrowing money not for development but to service existing loans, fueling a debt spiral that leaves nothing for infrastructure, education, healthcare, or jobs.

“This addiction to borrowing, entrenched under the APC-led administration and now accelerated by President Tinubu, has turned public finance into a Ponzi scheme — borrowing to pay debt, then borrowing again to pay interest. Nigeria is now caught in a vicious cycle that mortgages the future to pay for the past.

“We warn that this is economic sabotage in plain sight. We demand that this reckless borrowing plan be halted immediately. We call on lawmakers, civil society organizations, the media, and the international community to take urgent action to stop this looming catastrophe. Nigeria must not be sold into debt slavery.