A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday appealed to President Bola Tinubu to rescue Nigerians from a debt trap in order to fulfill his Renewed Hope Agenda and allow citizens to breathe.
Okechukwu lamented that he cannot fathom how the Renewed Hope Agenda will bring the intended succor to Nigerians when the country is burdened with all manner of debts, both local and foreign, “prohibitive interest rates on treasury bills, dangerous dollar-denominated loans, and short-term Eurobonds, making the fiscal restructuring of debt service imperative.”
In a statement he signed, Okechukwu humbly appealed to the president, citing Benjamin Franklin’s admonition that “he who goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing,” and called for a high-powered panel of inquiry to reexamine Nigeria’s debts to uncover genuine and less-than-transparent debt transactions.
He cautioned that the huge debt burden threatens Nigeria’s nascent democracy and drains resources meant for health, education, and poverty alleviation.
According to Okechukwu: “It is regrettable that the budget for Defence (N4.91tr), Infrastructure (N4.06tr), Education (N3.52tr), and Health (N2.48tr), totaling N14.97tr, is far less than the N15.8trillion budgeted for debt service.”
Okechukwu acknowledged the removal of fuel subsidies, giving kudos to President Tinubu, but lamented that the humongous debt service has now become the new anti-production elephant in the room.
