The Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Peter Obi, has lamented the rising debt profile of the nation owing to what he described as excessive and reckless borrowing.
Obi, who spoke at The Morning Show on Arise Television, said the current debt position of the country called for a serious concern.
Obi explained that financial borrowing was not entirely bad if the borrowed funds were put into productive use.
He said, however, that borrowing without a business case or convincing business plans only meant mortgaging the future.
“Everybody knows my stand on borrowing. I am against reckless borrowing and borrowing for consumption. If you must borrow, you must be able to convincingly prove to us the business case of the borrowing, otherwise you are mortgaging the future”, Obi said.
“All the funds that have been borrowed for long in the country have not impacted positively on the growth of Nigeria’s economy, meaning that they were reckless and meant for consumption. Even using Kenya & Ghana in Africa for example, both are borrowing like us. But see the difference.
“In 2010, Ghana’s GDP was $32 billion, with pre capita of $1320, in 2019 is GDP had grown to $64.5 billion, with per capita of $2200. And for Kenya in 2010 had GDP of $42 Billion US Dollars, per capita of $912, in 2019 it was $87B US Dollars with per capita of $1700, while Nigeria had a per capita of $2320 in 2010 & in 2019 with all the borrowing it was 1920 & Obi noted.
Obi warned that excessive financial borrowing would hit the country hard if it was not curtailed. He added that the country’s borrowed funds from 2008 till date stood at almost 100 billion US Dollars, which represented a quarter of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He said that it was not enough “to tell us that you will use the borrowed funds for this or that without presenting any business case for such funds”.
“No country borrows a quarter of its GDP without showing tangible investments or projects into which the borrowed funds were employed”, Obi said.
Obi further bemoaned the significant decrease in Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which he said was as a result of the high level of insecurity and lawlessness in the country.
