Nigeria Heading Towards Bankruptcy, Emir Sanusi Warns Buhari To Act

Emir Muhammad Sanusi II has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to rise up to the economic challenges facing the country saying the country was headed for bankruptcy if the drift in the economy is not immediately reversed.

Speaking during the third national treasury workshop held at Government House, Kano, the emir particularly cited the high proportion of government revenue going to debt servicing and the subsidy on petroleum as the two major dangers to the economy.

The emir who had lately been entangled with officials of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC on account of some of his past utterances and counsels said the president must make the big decision to remove subsidies which he said were distorting the economy.

This is not the first time that the emir would be drawing attention to the drift in the economy. In December 2016 he had alleged that the Federal Government was piling its bills on the Central Bank of Nigeria with up to N4.7 trillion in overdrafts from the CBN. At that time presidential aide, Mallam Garba Shehu had described his claims as based on ignorance. But speaking on Wednesday morning, Emir Sanusi said:

“100% of what we earn in the oil sector went out to import petrol. You are treasurers, is this sustainable? The country will be bankrupted and we are heading to bankruptcy.

“For the Federal Government to place itself in a position where, (in finance you all know this is what we call a naked edge), the price of crude oil and petroleum products goes up, the Federal government pays, exchange rate moves, the Federal Government pays, interest rate moves, the Federal Government pays, demurrage, the Federal Government pays.

“What is so life-threatening about petroleum price that we have to sacrifice education, sacrifice health sector and sacrifice infrastructure for us to have cheap petroleum? And risk the financial health of the country.”

Emir Sanusi who served as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN before his enthronement nevertheless affirmed that it was a tough call for the president but which must be made.

“It is a difficult decision, but if the president really wants to deal with poverty, he has to deal with this first. He has to tell Nigerians, that they have to be ready, if the international price of fuel goes up, people must be ready to pay more. If it goes down, people will benefit. We have to be responsible; this is what happens everywhere in the world.

“His Excellency, the President, said in his inaugural speech that his government would like to lift 100 million people out of poverty. It was a speech that was well received, not only in this country but worldwide.

“The number of people living in abject poverty in Nigeria is frightening. By 2050, 85 percent of those living in extreme poverty in the world will be from the African continent, and Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo will top the list.

“Two days ago, I read that the percentage of government revenue going to debt servicing had risen to 70 percent. These numbers are not lying. They are public numbers. I read them in the newspapers. When you are spending 70 per cent of your revenue on debt services, then you are managing 30 percent.

“And then, you continue subsidising petroleum products and spending N1.5trillion per annum on petroleum subsidy! And then we are subsidising electricity tariff. And maybe, you have to borrow from the capital market or the Central Bank of Nigeria to service the shortfall in the electricity tariff. Where is the money to pay salaries? Where is the money for education and other government projects?”

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