$22.7bn loan: Nigeria has borrowed $100bn embazzled – Peter Obi

By Florence Kalu

At the last count, the dept profile of Nigeria stands at about $100 billion starting from 2008 without any growth whatsoever to show for it according to Mr. Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra state.

Obi stated this while lending his voice as a guest at a television  programme over the Senate’s approval of  $22.7 billion loan request of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He maintained that there has not been any clear economic direction in place on where and what the money would be channelled to before borrowing, all that has been going on is once such funds are recklessly borrowed, they’re consumed.

“Everybody knows my stand on borrowing. I am against reckless borrowing and borrowing for consumption. If you must borrow, you must be able to prove the business case of the borrowing convincingly, otherwise, you are mortgaging the future,” Obi said.

“All the funds that have been borrowed for long in the country have not impacted positively on the growth of Nigeria’s economy, meaning that they were reckless and intended for consumption.
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“Even using Kenya & Ghana in Africa, for example, both are borrowing like us. But the difference is, in 2010, Ghana’s GDP was 32 billion US Dollars, with per-capita of $1320, in 2019 its GDP had grown to $64.5 billion, with per-capita of $2200.

“In 2010, when we started…all these borrowings, our per capita was 2,300. Today, it is 1,920. So, something is missing. The more we borrow, the worse our economy, which means we are not investing this money.

“We have borrowed in Nigeria, call it from 2008 till date, we’ve been able to borrow, where our debt has now increased to almost a $100bn. What can we show for all this debt?

“No country borrows a quarter of its GDP without showing tangible investments or projects into which the borrowed funds would be deployed.”

It would be recalled that when Obasanjo assumed power in 1999, the country was in neck deep into debt of about $36 billion.

As at April 2006, Nigeria  became the first African country to fully pay off its debt to the Paris club. 14 down the line, the country’s debt is estimated  at $100 billion