Ritchiee: Are you really educated? Borrowing is not bad if only they wouldn't loot it. All nations of the world including USA,China borrow and still continue to borrow.
During the first term of Trump,national debt increased by approximately $7.8 trillion during his presidency, driven by tax cuts (e.g., TCJA 2017) and COVID-19 relief spending (e.g., CARES Act 2020). Debt at start (2017): ~$19.9 trillion Debt at end of his 4 years (2021): ~$27.7 trillion. He borrowed a whole 7.8 trillion dollars in 4 years.
All of the entire Nigeria's total public debt is $94.23 billion as of December 31, 2024. Not even up to 100 billion dollars...mtcheww.
If only we have the capability of borrowing up to a trillion dollar even for the 8 years,Nigeria's growth will be exponential. And that is if they don't loot it which I am sure Tinubu will never allow because of his desire to grow Nigeria economically.
The APC government of Tinubu and the Buhari government borrowed $4 billion to rehabilitate four refineries. Still, not a single refinery is operational, despite announcing that the refineries would be operational by January 2025.
Nothing good can come out of Tinubu's government. He needs to reduce the size of his bloated ministry; 5000 MDA and 48 ministries are a waste, and the reason why the country is not functioning.
Ole Government, the aim of going to the senate is to avoid corruption and waste.
- Also, it reeks of absolute lack of plan to keep going back to the senate every month to get approval for external borrowings and as such, all planned borrowings (covering all 36 states and the FG), over the next two years, have been presented as one to the National Assembly.
delkuf: the govt can barely function and this guys are living a flashy lifestyle. Tinubu is giving millions to governors and politicians.
Let stop deceiving ourselves. Even if oil export us at $10 Nigeria can still function. It is to minimize the excess spending.
How will Nigeria support its existing debt of $10 for oil export? I don't need to highlight the hopelessness of Nigeria's political class, which is a well-known subject.
We need to remove emotion from politics and take on corrupt politicians directly
forgiveness: They are just borrowing money but I hope it's used judiciously for the purpose.
What happened to the $24 billion that Buhari borrowed?
Nigeria is finished. Tinubu has figured out that there is no foreign investment coming into the country. The oil export has been mortgaged to the hilt. So he has to borrow to fund consumption.
donpata: Because we are cursed with dumb leaders, we will continue to suffer. It is suicide to support importation against local production. Same thing is happening to maize production. Fertilizer is still very expensive and so are herbicides and pesticides. Rather than addressing these challenges for long term sustainable agricultural development, government is now taking the lazy man's way for temporary gains due to elections.
Even a newborn baby knows that the disastrous level of insecurity in the country especially in the north, is the major cause of high food prices since many farming communities have been displaced. Rather than address this terrible issue head-on, government has resorted to window dressing for temporary gains and more trouble later.
I see ignorant comments where people are blaming the farmers for not using the opportunity wisely. That line of argument is a consequence of zero knowledge of basic economics. The farmers are to a large extent, victims of the situation we find ourselves.
Hoarding is a crime, and most of our farmers lack the capacity to hold onto their produces longer than two to three months cos they simply sell and buy fertilizer and other farm inputs as well as household groceries. The hoarders are the corrupt politicians and biz people with warehouses, and with capacity to store these products for years. Again, rather than targeting these persons, the government is allowing more importation, the lazy-man solution.
The people benefiting from the agricultural value chain locally are large. All these drama will just make them jobless. I understand there is hunger in the land but government should take up the responsibility of tackling insecurity and dealing with their hoarder friends so that food can be cheap. Subsidy for farming inputs are also great. Afterall, the farmers in countries we are importing from are heavily subsidized by their govts. Y not we? Why kill local industry. BUNCH OF MEDIOCRES.
Cassava farming is mostly in the South. Why is the cost still high when the product is locally produced and processed?
SarkinYarki: We all know , Buhari needs to face questions on what happened to 2.5 billion dollars for refinery repairs because not a dime was spent on the refineries
Buhari spent $4 billion on three unproductive refineries, which is linked to the forward sale of Nigerian crude oil.
vecman22: Only because the countries there are heavily dependent on imported goods to survive, you can never see South Africa or Egypt on a list like this.. if you kwn, you kwn
He had no choice, it was either those terms or what is now happening in Gaza.. Black SA didn't defeat the White SA in any liberation war. .
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa may face brutal economic sanctions similar to those imposed on Zimbabwe and Iran if he did not negotiate a humiliating deal with the USA. , South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has demonstrated the uselessness of Africa's so-called independence.
Listening to all those White Afrikaners complain that they are victims weakens the coalition government. The DA's claim that they joined the coalition to keep out EFF/Zuma is not a good advertisement for South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa's government.
Donald Trump has four years left, and then he will be replaced.
The ADC will have to accept PO as the presidential candidate. I don't know how PO will win the North, SW or Middle-Belt with El Rufai in his camp, but this is good for Nigeria's democracy, a real competition between Tinubu and PO
JuanDeDios: How about the recognise the differences? E.g., a federal/confederal system like that Switzerland – in which the regions are very strong?
Nigeria had that system of government in 1960. I doubt the North will accept regional government as it will be used to isolate the North. But if a political candidate wins an election on the basis of regional government, like Nigel Farage did with Brexit , then regional government is a possibility.
budaatum: Perhaps he wants to be the king of Nigeria, or we should adopt China's one party rule.
Some people don't seem to understand that those countries have a system dictated by their history. If Nigeria adopts, say, the Yoruba way of choosing our leaders, one family will rule forever.
The Yoruba political system strongly emphasises good government; if the Alafin failed, he was usually executed. Due to the strong Yoruba institutions, the Fulani army couldn't penetrate Yoruba land beyond Illorin.
Nigeria can never work. How can you operate a country with Sharia law in the North and Secular law in the South? It can never work, even if they tried. Democracy has enabled insecurity, Sharia law and overwhelming poverty.
kettykin: If APC loses power, Emefiele will rise—appeal, and snatch back every naira they looted from him under the guise of prosecution. This is not justice; it’s the resurrection of the “abandoned property” madness, a political witch-hunt cloaked in legal nonsense. His only so-called crime? Changing the currency to choke vote buyers. That alone made him a marked man. Meanwhile, the real vultures in the NNPC—those blood-sucking, oil-thieving warlords—are shielded by power, untouched by EFCC, and drunk on stolen billions while the country rots.
Why should I care about Emefiele? Wouldn't it be good for Nigeria if another political party won the election and started prosecuting Mele Kyari and Akpabio?
lexy2014: true but how come Saudi authorities can arrest these people but when they are in nigeria they become invisible to the nigerian authorities?
Didn't read you read about Gumi visiting the terrorist, or El Rufai visiting the terrorist in Mali to pay them to stop attacking Nigerians. The Fulani Northern elite know where the terrorists reside. They use them for their political interest.
badoh: "He said a personal blueprint would offend too many interests,”. This is the best response from a strategic leader. The woman thinks Tinubu is someone you can box to a corner so he can expose his plans? Make she continue to wail, the bus don leave already.
You are supposed to expose your plan during the campaign process.
Nigerians are hypocrites and trabalist. What has the Tinubu government got to do with the SW? The condition in the SW is as bad as any region. 62% of Tinubu's vote came from the North, Muslim-Muslim ticket.
These people only complain because Tinubu didn't give them juicy ministerial jobs. The president of Nigeria cannot fix the North; it has to come from the northern states.
Hajiya Naja’atu Mohammed, a former director in President Bola Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council and erstwhile member of the Police Service Commission, claimed Tinubu has sidelined the North and runs a government centred on the South West.
shortgun: A visionary leader like Peter Obi will bring transformative and innovative ideas to these institutions that were conceived by our founding fathers and make them viable. These institutions seems to be failing simply because of of a clueless leadership.
A visionary leader. That jumps from APGA to PDP to LP. Where is the next party?
TimeManager: When the President was traveling, opposition were saying all sorts, now the Amir of Qatar has sent his foreign minister to seal the deal. What an elderly sees sitting down, a child wouldn't see climbing an iroko tree. God bless Nigeria.
-Kiss the truth!
How much have they invested in two years since Tinubu's begging bowl to the Middle East? Give me numbers
Thiefobi1: So because the north made him president he should subject himself as northern slaves.
When he made buhari president was he Southwestern slave
Am ashamed of being the same tribe with the writer if truly he is from S.W.
Some people are born to be generational slaves.
Tinubu gave Nigeria Buhari, a man we all know was incapable of governance. Have no problem if Tinubu decide that he will govern in his own right, but he has to deliver good governance and from the evidence, it just does not look good.
ScamDemicEra: ... those who started the war for political gains & those making money from it, know how to end it !
I pity the poorly paid/kitted soldiers wasting their lives while the beneficiaries smile to the bank !
The North will end up like Somalia and Sudan. They should blame their useless Northern politician who uses insecurity to weaken the government of the Southern presidency.
sulaak: Olodo, the World Banks said Agriculture, manufacturing, and services targeted at domestic consumption were listed as critical to achieving this transformation. Whixh indicate less
theredaddy: Forget that thing, we have experience world bank enough to know its All eye service, ask yourselves
what are the conditions they give when they want to give our leaders loan
Will world bank pretend they dont know most loans granted to our leaders are misappropriated and embezzled ... but still they keep gearing our leaders to come take more loan.
Forget World Bank public address, they are modern colonial masters, they enjoy seeing us looking to them
No one forced Nigeria's leadership to implement World Bank policies.
The policies to implement the removal of subsidising fuel imports for the investment in Electricity, Manufacturing, Agriculture, and services are the right policy. The application has been wasted by bloated civil services and a corrupt government.
There is a brilliant book by Zainab Usman, she lays the blame on Nigeria's politics always being in a cruise control mode, which means that the country cannot afford a long-term development plan and has to resort to survival plan such as food import, fuel import and crude oil export dependency at the expense of industrial development.
In the 1980s, Nigeria was on the verge of industrialisation with a well-developed textile industry and the automotive assembly plants producing 150,00 units per annum. Nigeria had a steel, petrochemical, refinery and fertiliser industries under development until IBB implemented the SAP programme; the rest is history.
Tinubu and the North: The tale of two betrayals, one far worse!
Olu Fasan | Opinion | May 12, 2025 =Businessday Nigeria
Going by media reports, the relationship between Bola Tinubu and the northern part of Nigeria (“the North”), which gave him the presidency in 2023, is frayed and may snap in 2027. The North, we are told, is regretful that despite pulling all the stops to put Tinubu in power, he is neglectful of, even indifferent to, the core interests of northern Nigeria, ranging from the region’s dehumanising poverty and insecurity to political appointments and policy choices that disadvantage the North.
Of course, considering that the North produced 64 percent of the votes that brought Tinubu to power, the region has every right to feel betrayed if, as president, Tinubu ignores its vital interests. However, as the legal maxim goes, “one who comes into equity must come with clean hands.” And in that regard, it’s worth recognising that, truth be told, there are two betrayals here: one, the betrayal of Nigeria; the other, the betrayal of the North!
Take the first betrayal. Without equivocation, the North betrayed Nigeria in making Tinubu president in 2023.
I say that not because the North did not have the right to choose whom it wanted as president, but because it made that choice without putting Nigeria first.
Put simply, the North voted for Tinubu in 2023 for two main reasons. First, because he “made” Muhammadu Buhari president in 2015, so, it was “payback time”. Second, because Tinubu played the religious card and fielded a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Neither of those two reasons served Nigeria’s best interests. Buhari’s presidency was an absolute disaster for Nigeria, politically, economically and socially.
Thus, it was an utter betrayal of Nigeria for the North to reward Tinubu for a self-interested political calculation that set this country back several decades. As for the Muslim-Muslim ticket, can the North look itself in the mirror and truly say that it was in Nigeria’s best interests to exploit religious divisions and vote for a same-faith presidential ticket? More on the first betrayal later.
“Thus, it was an utter betrayal of Nigeria for the North to reward Tinubu for a self-interested political calculation that set this country back several decades.”
Now, take the second betrayal. Truth is, Tinubu has betrayed the North, to which he owes his presidency. Consider the facts.
In the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu secured a minuscule 127,370 votes (5.72%) from the South-East; a miserly 799, 957 votes (28%) from the South-South; and a modest 2,279,407 (53.59%) from his South-West base. However, North-Central gave Tinubu 1,760,993 (38.58%); North-East gave him 1,185,458 (34.5%), and North-West handed him 2,652,235 (39.6%). Put together, out of Tinubu’s 8,794,726 votes in the election, the North accounted for 5,598,686 or 64 percent; the South gave him only 3,196,040 or 36 percent, with the South-East and the South-South overwhelmingly rejecting him.
Elsewhere, in other political climes, the North’s massive and decisive support will make them a key partner in Tinubu’s government, with their concerns receiving serious considerations. Only a strong mandate with a broad-based national support can ensure that no single group has such a decisive influence. But in Nigeria, someone can become president with a narrow victory by ruthlessly deploying the wedge issues of ethnicity and religion, as Tinubu did in 2023. He became president with the support of a tiny segment of the population, securing only 8.7m out of the 24m votes cast, or 36.6 percent of the popular vote, with predominantly Muslim votes (in the North) and ethnic votes (in the South-West).
However, regardless of what the apologists say, the truth is that, in government, Tinubu is running a Yoruba-centric administration, putting his fellow Yoruba in the South-West and, in some cases, ethnic Yoruba in the North-Central in virtually all key economic, security and justice positions. The North may have made him president, but he behaves as if he holds the office for the Yorubas. People with Yoruba names occupy most of the critical offices of state.
Yet, the rumblings of discontent in the North go beyond Tinubu’s lopsided appointments. At the start of his administration in August 2023, Tinubu imposed economic blockade, and threatened military sanctions, against Niger Republic, following a military coup, ignoring the impacts on the North, which has centuries old historical and cultural ties with Niger. The controversial tax reform proposals were other Tinubu policies that ignored northern sensitivities. Then, there’s the paralysed state of the North itself: poverty, insecurity, name it!
But let’s be clear: Of the two betrayals, the North’s betrayal of Nigeria is far worse than Tinubu’s betrayal of the North. In February 2023, I wrote a piece titled “The North must not foist a Tinubu presidency on Nigeria” (BusinessDay, February 6, 2023). I argued that the North should discharge its critical kingmaker role in the best interests of Nigeria and should not elect Tinubu a) as a payback for making Buhari president and b) because of his Muslim-Muslim ticket. Rather, they should consider whether, given his character, integrity and vision for Nigeria – not his “emi lokan” self-entitlement – he was the president Nigeria needed.
However, the notion that “the North is indebted to Tinubu and it’s payback time” was very strong. It was as if Tinubu helped Buhari to become president in 2015, after three failed attempts, because he cared about what was best for Nigeria and, indeed, the North rather than his own interests. In truth, Tinubu’s relationship with Buhari and the North was not based on deep affections or values. Rather, it was purely transactional and reciprocal: rub-my-back-I-rub-yours! If Buhari had turned out to be even a modestly good president, one could say that Tinubu exercised good judgement, a key leadership criterion, even though his motive was self-serving. But Buhari was an unmitigated disaster as president. So, why reward Tinubu for bad judgement, a selfish one at that? It was a slap in the face of Nigeria!
[b]Yet, the biggest determining factor for the North was the Muslim-Muslim ticket. [/b]The Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN) said it supported “Mallam Ahmed Tinubu” because he chose “Mallam Kashim Shettima” as his running mate.
[b]Nasir el-Rufai, Tinubu’s Svengali-turned-critic, said in a viral video that religion gave Tinubu “victory”, asserting that Tinubu “had no option” but to pick a Muslim running mate; otherwise, “he would lose the election”. [/b]Recently, el-Rufai said he had never put any individual above Nigeria. He lied. To advance Islamic hegemony, he put Tinubu above Nigeria, despite saying that he knew all the allegations and controversies swirling around Tinubu about his integrity and character.
In his memoir, A Journey in Service, General Ibrahim Babangida remarked: “Abiola, a southern Muslim, defied conventional wisdom by picking another Muslim as his running mate for the June 12 presidential election.” That remark confirmed that there was, indeed, a conventional wisdom that the president and the vice-president should not belong to the same faith. Even Buhari, often accused of religious bigotry, respected the conventional wisdom in 2015 when he refused to make Tinubu, a fellow Muslim, his running mate. Conventional wisdom is underpinned by consensus and can only be broken by consensus. But with just 36.6 percent of the popular vote, Tinubu, helped by the North, shattered a long-cherished conventional wisdom, and rode roughshod over the principle of religious equality!
The North made Tinubu president for two perverse reasons: “payback time”, a sop to his “emi-lokan” claim, and Muslim-Muslim ticket. But seemingly, it’s having buyer’s remorse. Yet, if the North is hurt by Tinubu’s betrayal, its own betrayal of Nigeria is far worse!
surgical: He should better remove ,more subsidy, properly or genuinely float the naira He will meet the world bank standard
Olodo, the World Banks said Agriculture, manufacturing, and services targeted at domestic consumption were listed as critical to achieving this transformation. Whixh indicate less
Cowards can't build their country instead they are running away.
The Europeans you are running to They faced worse than Africa Slavery. Wars upon wars The same london Hitler was bombing civilian homes at night killing 60k civilians. . Did british people JAPA and run to asia or arabia or africa for saftey..NOOOO
They stood and fought and now you all are rushing there to enjoy what their ancestors paid for in blood.
You can't fight for your own land??
Why not fight for your country to be better so that europeans will be japaing to your own country.
If European Ancestors were cowards like you all and ran away. You will not be Japaing to Europe now for green pasture and saftey.
Una run go country that was made what it is today by the blood and sacrifice their ancestors made inorder for their generations to live peacefully as they are now.
And you wonder why they are Racist towards you.
Because they see you as Cowards who run away from your country into their country to reap the benefits of their ancestors sweat and blood.
Ordinary herdsmen you all are running away to Europe. Cowards
Europeans have been Japing since the 15th century. How do you think Australia, New Zealand and the USA were populated? English doctors are emigrating to Australia and New Zealand right now.
SmartPolician: The idea of EnuguAir was really unnecessary. He should've used that money to start off plantations, bring in tractors, employ people and grow several crops that do well in Enugu (like cashew) and export it. Foodstuff business has huge untapped potential
How would he make money for himself if he did all that?
Politics › Re: Tinubu Media Aide: The President Is Not Requesting To Borrow $20 Billion by sulaak(m): 3:56pm On May 28, 2025
