Atiku Abubakar and President Bola Tinubu
A former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s newest request for a loan, describing it as “bone-crushing”.
The Senate has approved the ₦1.77 trillion ($2.2b) loan request of President Tinubu after a voice vote in favour of the request.
But Atiku has slammed the move and believes the loans do not favour Nigerians.
“These @officialABAT’s loans are bone-crushing to Nigerians and bringing insufferable pressure on the economy, especially when they are not properly negotiated and utilized,” Atiku wrote on his X handle on Thursday.
“It is concerning that the voracious appetite for these humongous loans is powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. A report by Budgit, a budget watchdog, has disclosed that the 2024 Budget is a mess because of the level of pork associated with it.”
He accused the National Assembly of being “an accomplice once more”.
“Nigeria is sinking further into debt, and the National Assembly has become an accomplice once more. In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Nigeria Customs Service under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the Budget,” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election said.
“Why are they still borrowing? There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”
“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,” the former vice president added. “It is time to apply more caution and arithmetic to the loan frenzy.”
According to him, “the recent World Bank report pegging Nigeria as the third-most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA) is worrying and concerning”.
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