Atiku raises the alarm over country’s rising debt

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has again raised the alarm on the rising debt profile of the country while imploring the Federal Government to ensure prudent management of the nation’s resources in order to secure it for future generations.

Atiku made this call on Friday via a statement titled, “We Must Keep Nigeria Financially Solvent For Future Generations,” which he signed in Abuja.

According to him, the fact that the country was spending over 90 per cent of its revenue on debt servicing was unhealthy and unsustainable, which he had explained during a statement in 2020.

The former VP said, “That warning was a patriotic one, devoid of partisanship, and was meant as a wake-up call to prevent the nation from going into insolvency.

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“At that time, I said, ‘We are on a precipice and if revenue figures do not rise quickly, Nigeria risks a situation where revenue cannot even sustain its debt servicing obligations. Meaning that we may become insolvent and our creditors may foreclose on us, as has occurred in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.’

“The alarm I sounded last year is now sounding louder.

“Interestingly, on Thursday, August 26, 2021, the Budget Office of the same administration released a statement to the effect that Nigeria made N2.23tn revenue in the first half of 2021, and spent N2.02tn on debt servicing, representing 90.58 per cent of national revenue in the period under review (H1).

“Although this clearly vindicates me, I have no joy that things have gotten to this stage,” Atiku lamented.

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