The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged the federal government to reduce expenditure on wasteful projects like the maintenance presidential Air Fleet to curtail the economic woes in Nigeria.
In a statement he personally signed, Wazirin Adamawa, Tuesday expressed shocked over the revelation from Nigeria’s First Quarter 2020 financial reports in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, indicated that whereas Nigeria spent a total sum of ₦943.12 billion in debt servicing, the federal government’s retained revenue for the same period were only ₦950.56 billion.
Atiku stated that “no one should be deceived. This is a crisis! Debt servicing does not equate to debt repayment.
“We are at a precipice. If our revenue figures do not go up and go up quickly, Nigeria risks a situation where our revenue cannot even sustain our debt servicing obligations. Meaning that we may become insolvent, and our creditors may foreclose on us, as has occurred in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, he added.
The statement in part reads: “In my opinion editorial of December 17 2019, titled ‘Endless Borrowing Will Lead Nigeria to Endless Sorrowing’, I had cause to counsel the Federal Government to desist from indiscriminate lending, and offered suggestions on ways to both increase revenue, and reduce expenditure, however, my counsel fell on deaf ears. And now we have come to this.
“Again, on May 15, 2020, I counselled that the Federal Government ought to reduce Nigeria’s budget by at least 25%, to reflect the economic realities of the times that we live in. Again, my entreaties were brushed aside.
“As part of an administration that paid off Nigeria’s entire foreign debt, I am concerned by the alarming and avoidable unprecedented increase in our debt to GDP ratio and debt to revenue ratio. The alarm I sounded last year is now sounding louder.
“Not only have we squandered our opportunities, but we have also squandered the opportunities of our future generations by bequeathing them debt that they neither incurred or enjoyed.
“As a matter of utmost urgency and importance, I call on the Federal Government to take immediate steps to drastically reduce its expenditure, especially on wasteful projects, such as maintenance of the Presidential Air Fleet, and unnecessary renovations of buildings that could serve as is, limousine fleet for top government officials, overseas travels and treatments, and the ₦4.6 billion Presidential villa maintenance budget, etc.
“We cannot be on the verge of economic ruin, while still maintaining a Presidential Air Fleet that has more planes than the Presidential fleets of those from whom we take these loans. In fact, Nigeria must sell those planes and channel the revenue to other vital areas of need, while taking additional steps to reduce the cost of running our government”.
