Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji
The Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has declared that obtaining loans is not a criminal act, as he justified borrowing money from international financial institutions by his administration to finance its budget, explaining that it was done to develop the nation’s infrastructure.
Penpushing reports that Tinubu made the clarification during his first presidential media chat on Monday, pointing out that previous governments did not judiciously utilise the loans they obtained from foreign institutions, stressing that rather than trading blame, he would concentrate on the nation’s future.
‘Borrowing is not criminal. We have serious infrastructural challenges. Yes, we have headed the wrong road in the past. I don’t want to look at that. I want to think about prosperity. I want to think about tomorrow’, he said.
Penpushing further reports that he emphasised that the loan his administration obtained would be channelled to road infrastructure, technology and power development.
“What is the element of this borrowing? Our roads are terrible. Our internet is not up to the level that we want as a technology-driven nation. We are still indebted to electricity and transmission in the power generation’, he added.
Penpushing also reports that Tinubu explained that the borrowings were not obtained to inflict pain on Nigerians but to develop the country.
“It’s not just because we want to inflict pain on anybody. These people share the same values. We want this country to grow. Yes, to grow all the way, all the way…,” he said.
Penpushing reports that it is recalled that in November, the National Assembly permitted President Tinubu to obtain a $2.209 billion external loan, equivalent to N1.767 trillion, which is aimed to be part of the funds to finance the 2024 budget.
The loan is one of the many others that Mr Tinubu’s administration has obtained through the approval of the National Assembly since he was sworn in as President, while as of June, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said Nigeria’s domestic and external debts stood at ₦121.67 trillion, equivalent to $91.46 billion.
Penpushing further reports that since the approval by the national assembly, number of Nigerians have criticised the Tinubu administration for taking more loans while struggling to pay the country’s debts, while the country’s debt profile rose by ₦24.33 trillion within three months – from ₦97.34 trillion ($108.23 billion) in December 2023 to ₦121.67 trillion ($91.46 billion).
Meanwhile, record has it that while total domestic debt was put at ₦65.65 trillion ($46.29bn), total external debt was ₦56.02 trillion ($42.12bn).
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