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Atiku Abubakar.

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 presidential elections and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar has called attention to Nigeria’s skyrocketing debt profile now imposed by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

A statement signed by Atiku’s Media Adviser, Mr. Pau Ibe said Nigeria’s debt profile in four years of the Buhari administration has risen to N24.3 trillion by December 2018, adding that between December 2018 and March 2019, the administration added another N560 billion debt to the nation’s debt profile.

Expressing concern and hinging the turn of events on profligate spending and irresponsible borrowing , Atiku said: “As alarming as this is, what is more troubling is that between December 2018 and March 2019, the administration of General Buhari added an additional and unprecedented ₦560 billion debt to our national debt profile.
“What could this junta have needed that amount for? If you take those dates into account, they fall on the period of electioneering, when monies were freely distributed by officials of this government in the name of Tradermoni and other election gimmicks that were discontinued after the election.”
Full text of the Atiku statement reads:
Sounding the alarm before Nigeria collapses under unsustainable debt
The increasing debt profile of our dear nation, Nigeria, is becoming more than a source of concern. The situation is now at the stage where all genuine lovers of Nigeria ought to raise an alarm.
On May 29, 2015, our national debt profile was at a very healthy ₦12 trillion. However, after four years of profligate spending, and even more irresponsible borrowing, our national debt doubled to ₦24.3 trillion by December, 2018.
As alarming as this is, what is more troubling is that between December 2018 and March 2019, the administration of General Buhari added an additional and unprecedented ₦560 billion debt to our national debt profile.
What could this junta have needed that amount for? If you take those dates into account, they fall on the period of electioneering, when monies were freely distributed by officials of this government in the name of Tradermoni and other election gimmicks that were discontinued after the election.
We find it inconceivable that Nigeria could have had such unprecedented borrowings in the midst of almost unimaginable sorrowing, which resulted in our nation becoming the world headquarters for extreme poverty and the global capital of out of school children, even as we slipped in the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International.
As someone who headed the National Economic Council that paid off Nigeria’s entire debt under the visionary leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar has the moral authority to call those who are turning Nigeria into a beggar nation to halt the drift into unsustainable borrowing.
We cannot continue to borrow to pay salaries and support luxuries. Already, over 50% of our revenue is going towards debt servicing, not even debt repayments.
We raise this alarm as responsible citizens and call on other lovers of Nigeria to speak up as we have no other nation to call our home, but Nigeria.
Paul Ibe
Media Adviser to Atiku Abubakar
Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party and Vice President of Nigeria, 1999-2007