If the existing debt is left unserviced or unpaid, it might become a problem for successive administrations and the whole country, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said.
Obasanjo said this on Sunday while reacting to President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to borrow additional $4. 04 billion and € 710 million from international finacial organisations.
Buhari on Tuesday wrote to the National Assembly, seeking approval for the loans in an addendum to 2018- 2020 borrowing plan.
Nigeria’s debts have continued to rise as the Federal Government seeks foreign loans to deliver key infrastructural projects
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that in July , the National Assembly approved the sums of $8.3 billion and €490 million loans contained in the initial 2018-2020 borrowing plan.
But Obasanjo said borrowing is not a problem, but what could be a problem would be what one is borrowing for and the plan or capacity to pay back.
“But if you are borrowing and accumulating debts for the next generation and the next generation after them, it is criminal. What are you borrowing for?” he said.
“If we are borrowing for recurrent expenditure, it is the height of folly. If we are borrowing for development that can pay for itself, that is understandable. Then the payment, how long will it take to pay itself?
“When I came into government as elected President, we were spending $3.5 billion to service debts. Even with that, our quantum of debts was not going down.”
