The Nigerian government, on Wednesday, faulted the alarm raised by Atiku Abubakar, a former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential aspirant, on Nigeria’s debt profile.
Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, said the apocalyptic scenarios on Nigeria’s debt profile, as painted by Atiku was nothing but scaremongering anchored on a false premise.
Atiku had on Tuesday claimed that Nigeria was in a financial crisis.
The former Vice President also urged the Federal Government to stop indiscriminate borrowing.
Reacting, Mohammed said though the Federal Government welcomes constructive criticism, such must be based on verifiable facts rather than conjectures and innuendos.
Mohammed’s reaction was contained in a press release signed and forwarded to Daybreak by his Media Aide, Segun Adeyemi.
Mohammed maintained that the figures portrayed by the former Vice President were wrong and misleading.
He, however, believes that Atiku’s love for Nigeria may be responsible for his comments on the country’s economy.
According to Mohammed: “There is no doubt that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar loves our country and wishes it well, otherwise he would not have sustained his serial quest for the country’s highest position. One can only hope that his resort to the use of such words as ‘precipice’, ‘foreclosure’ and ‘economic ruin’ does not reflect anything but best wishes for the country at this time.”
The Minister stated that the figure of the country’s debt to revenue ratio of 99% in the first quarter of 2020 quoted by Atiku was not in the Medium-Term Expenditure framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, where he claimed he got it from.
“We are also not able to ascertain the source of the first quarter figures of N943.12 billion for debt servicing and N950.56 billion for retained revenue, which he also quoted.
“Therefore, the statement that debt servicing does not equate debt repayment is not only wrong, but ill-informed.”
