Nigeria’s minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has faulted the claims made by former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on the country’s rising debt profile.
Odunews.com reports that Atku berated the federal government for servicing debts with about 99% of the country’s revenue thereby ‘squandering opportunities for future generations.”
The Minister however insisted that the claims made by Atiku are ‘unverifiable’ and false’.
Reacting to the claims, Mohammed said: “There is no doubt that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar loves our country and wishes it well, otherwise he would not have sustained his serial quest for the country’s highest position. One can only hope that his resort to the use of such words as ‘precipice’, ‘foreclosure’ and ‘economic ruin’ does not reflect anything but best wishes for the country at this time.”
The Minister stated that the figure of the country’s debt to revenue ratio of 99% in the first quarter of 2020 quoted by Atiku was not in the Medium-Term Expenditure framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, where he claimed he got it from.
“We are also not able to ascertain the source of the first quarter figures of N943.12 billion for debt servicing and N950.56 billion for retained revenue, which he also quoted.
“Therefore, the statement that debt servicing does not equate debt repayment is not only wrong, but ill-informed.”
