Atiku Raises New Suspicions Over Tinubu’s Loan Plan

Former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has raised concerns over Nigeria’s growing debt noting that the government was hiding some things.

The former vice president observed that President Tinubu had only months ago told Nigerians that collections by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS was enough to cover the budget deficit, Atiku expressed concern why the government was now resorting to foreign loans. “There is something that they are not telling Nigerians,” Atiku said even as he lamented that whereas the Olusegun Obasanjo removed Nigeria from the debt tree that the Tinubu government has returned Nigeria to among the world’d three most indebted nations.

He criticized the approval of a ₦1.77 trillion ($2.2 billion) loan request by the National Assembly, accusing President Bola Tinubu’s administration of pushing the country deeper into financial hardship.

In a statement, Atiku expressed alarm over the World Bank’s report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted nation to the International Development Association (IDA). He argued that the government’s borrowing habits are exacerbating economic challenges and straining the nation’s resources.

He stated, “The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning. This report is coming just when the government has already sent a proposal to the National Assembly signaling an intention to borrow an additional N1.7 trillion being shortfall in the 2024 budget through Euro Bonds.”

Atiku highlighted discrepancies in the loan proposal, noting that it was benchmarked at an exchange rate of ₦800 to $1, while the actual exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria exceeds ₦1,600. He questioned why the government continues to borrow despite claiming record revenue collection by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Customs.

Nigeria is sinking further in debt, and the National Assembly has become an accomplice once more,” Atiku said. “Tinubu had, in July this year, boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch have collected all-time high revenues to finance the Budget. Why then are they still borrowing? There is something that they are not telling Nigerians.”

He described Tinubu’s borrowing spree as “bone-crushing” and claimed the loans are poorly negotiated and utilized, driven more by corruption than infrastructure or development needs. Referring to a report by Budgit, a budget monitoring organization, he added, “The 2024 Budget is a mess because of the level of pork associated with it.”

Atiku also lamented the reversal of progress made under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, which eliminated Nigeria’s foreign debt. “I feel a sense of personal agony seeing that just a few years after the administration of President Obasanjo took our country out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he said.

He urged caution in future financial decisions and called for better management of the nation’s economic resources. “It is time that we apply more caution and arithmetic to the loan frenzy,” he concluded.

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