Nigeria’s Debts Unproductive, N10trn Being Spent On Servicing It – Peter Obi Blasts FG

Peter Obi, a former presidential candidate, claims that the federal government spends N10 trillion on “unproductive” loans.

The former Anambra governor Obi voiced his worries on Tuesday, April 2, in a post on his X page, stating that “last year, 2023, our total debt servicing for domestic debts stood at N4.4 trillion and that of external debt servicing was $3.5 billion, which is about N4.9 trillion. In effect, approximately N10 trillion is now spent on servicing unproductive debts.”

Obi claims that the nation borrowed “about N10 trillion in a quarter, and what we spend on debt service, is also about N10 trillion.”

Each of the statistics, according to him, exceeds the whole budgetary allotment for the “four highest priority areas,” which are infrastructure (N1.32 trillion), health (N1.33 trillion), education (N2.18 trillion), and defense (N3.25 trillion).

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), as of March 22, Nigeria’s overall public debt increased by N9 trillion during the country’s fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023 to N97.34 trillion.

DMO claims that the federal government’s fresh domestic borrowing to partially finance the budget deficit for 2024 was the main cause of the rise.

He further stated, “More worrisome is the fact that there has been no corresponding visible usage or investments as required by the law, to show their impact on the nation’s development,” he said.

“At the end of the second quarter, Q2, of 2023, our debt stood at N87.9 trillion, which was very disturbing to us, because we were at a loss as to what we did with the huge debt, especially the over N23 trillion ways and means borrowed by the last administration, which for me, would have been the end of borrowing without any visible and corresponding investment and benefit to the nation.

“But sadly and more worrisome is the fact that between the end of the third quarter, Q3, and the end of the fourth quarter, Q4, of 2023, about N10 trillion was added to our debt portfolio , which has now taken our debts to N97.3 trillion, again, without any corresponding visible and verifiable utilization.This is the highest ever borrowed in one quarter.” [CONTINUE READING HERE]