Tuesday 4 December 2012

Nigeria has Turned a Debtor Nation Under Jonathan



Records obtained from the Debt Management Office showed that four months after Jonathan became Acting President, the total debt profile stood at N4.18tn (as at June 30, 2010). Under President Goodluck Jonathan, the Federal Government has borrowed over N2.5tn.

This shows that within a period of 24 months or two years, the Federal Government debt profile rose by 61.48 per cent.
Analysis of the debt increment between June 30, 2010 and June 30, 2012 shows that the Federal Government borrowed an average of N107.08bn every month for 24 months or a total of N1.285tn per annum.

If the increment in debt profile is subjected to daily analysis, the Federal Government borrowed N3.52bn every day for a period of two years.

This debt profile is exclusive of the nation’s total debt portfolio as it is more difficult to determine the total indebtedness of the subnational government – the state and local governments.

The DMO also put the external indebtedness of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory at N344.96bn as at June 30, 2012.

Unfortunately, the Federal Government had recently presented to the National Assembly a plan to borrow another $8bn from external sources for infrastructure development. Should it go ahead with the $8bn loan, the move will balloon the Federal Government’s foreign debt to $13.91bn.

Reacting to the sad development, President of the Campaign for Democracy, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said the increasing indebtedness was a sign that the nation’s resources were being mismanaged and portend a great danger to the economy.

She said, “Increasingly, we cannot meet all our obligations. As we are speaking, some agencies have not received their allocations. The increasing debt is going to have a skyrocketing effect on the economy; repaying of the loans.

“We are busy collecting loans that we don’t need and loans that are not properly utilised. It boils down to corruption. There is a cause to worry."

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