Minister for State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba said on Thursday that Nigeria’s rising debt was as a result of the failure of past leaders to utilise the country’s wealth to build infrastructure projects.
Agba, who stated this during an interview on Arise TV monitored in Abuja, said that most of the loans were used to fund new and abandoned projects by previous administrations.
Defending the recent rise in Nigeria’s debt profile the minister pointed out that the failure of the past administration had given the Buhari-led government no option than to borrow.
He said, “Why are we having those debts? It is because when we were rich, things that needed to be done were not done.
“Like the President would say, take a stock of our crude oil production over the years and look at the price of crude, take an average price of crude and look at what the country earned, why do we have so much infrastructure deficit?
“And if those are not taken care of today, then we will have a bigger problem in the future. What we should look at is these debts that you speak about, what are the conditions for them? Are they concessionary loans or are they commercial loans?
“In the first place, they are concessionary loans. The interest rate ranges from about 1.8 to about 2.5 per cent as against when you go to commercial banks and get a loan of 15 to over 20 per cent.”
According to the Minister, Nigeria had a moratorium of ten years to begin to pay the loans which he described as a ‘gift.’
“I think that what is important is what is the money being used for. The Ajaokuta-Alaja rail line started about 35 years ago. No train ever passed it. Trees started growing on it.
“This government resuscitated it, revamped it, changed it from being a cargo rail and it is beginning to run after 35 years and it is carrying passengers,” he added.
When Buhari came into power in 2015, Nigeria’s debt was at about N10trn but had risen to N38trn as of September 2021.
The Debt Management Office (DMO), on Tuesday disclosed that in the first nine months of 2021 that debt rose by N4.89trn, from N33.1trn in the first quarter of 2021 to N38trn in third quarter.
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
