Rising Debt: Stop Mortgaging The Future Of Nigerians, Says Timi Frank 

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has described the astronomical rise in the nation’s Foriegn debt portfolio under the present administration as worrisome with a call on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop mortgaging the future of Nigerians.

Frank who made the declaration in a statement in Abuja also pleaded with the Chinese and other foreign governments to be wary of granting loans to the present administration.

He stated that despite over 100 per cent rise in the nation’s external debt under the Buhari administration, there is little or nothing on ground – in terms of concrete economic, social and infrastructural development to justify the huge debt already incurred by Buhari.

The former APC chieftain said that the goal of Buhari is to return the country to pre-1999 debt level which ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo fought hard to cancel.

“If something is not done urgently to stop these huge loans being amassed by Buhari,, the country’s future will be in jeopardy and our children’s children will certainly turn slaves to our creditors. Unfortunately this is the kind of future that Buhari is preparing for Nigerians – both living and yet unborn,” Frank stated.

He thanked the Chinese Government for recently signing a $328million ICT pact with  Buhari but regretted that the loans they have released to the country in the last three years are not being utilized for the purposes they were meant.

“Nigerians only hear of loans that the present administration has incurred in the last three years, but there is nothing on ground to show that such amounts have come into the Federal coffers for development,” he stated.

Frank wondered how the nation’s external debt profile skyrocketed from $10billion in 2015, to $22.08bn as of June 30 this year – representing a whooping 114.05 per cent, according to statistics from the Debt Management Office (DMO).

He lamented that the nation’s local debt also currently stands at N12.15trillion.

He said: “Nigerians have not seen the proposed dividends accruable from these loans, otherwise, Nigeria would not have emerged the poverty capital of the world with over 87 million people living in extreme poverty – according to a report by the Brookings Institution on the World Poverty Clock recently.”

He urged the National Assembly to stop approving foreign loan requests by Buhari while calling on the Chinese and other world governments and international financial Institutions to desist from granting loans to the Buhari’s administration.

“The world ought to know that Buhari is on his way out as the 2019 election approaches. Therefore any loan agreement between Buhari and any entity at this point would be repaid by him in person and not the succeeding government,” he stated.

He called on the National Assembly to probe where and how the over $11billion external loans granted to Buhari’s administration in the last three years have been or are being utilized.

“This is not the way Buhari met Nigeria and he must not be allowed to worsen the economic condition of the country further, having failed to improve it. The National Assembly owes the country a duty to stop approving incessant foreign loan requests by Buhari.

“The world also owes Nigeria a duty to stop granting these loans because they are not being utilized for the welfare of the people,” he stated.