The Nigerian government has again defended the increasing debt profile under the President Muhammadu Buhari regime.
The government also accused some critics of the increasing debt profile of “scaremongering.”
One of such recent critics is a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who warned last week that Nigeria risked going bankrupt based on its worsening debt profile under Mr Buhari.
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, stated the government’s position at a press briefing in Lagos on Monday.
Mr Mohammed admitted that Nigeria’s external debt had more than doubled since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office. He, however, said there was “no cause for alarm” and that the debt figures being bandied around were inaccurate.
“Nigeria’s total public debt stock in 2015 was $63.80 billion, comprising $10.31 billion of external debt and $53.49 billion domestic debt. By June 2019, the total debt stock was $83.883 billion, made up of $27.163 billion of external debt and $56.720 billion domestic debt. It is therefore not correct to say that Nigeria’s external debt alone is $81.274 billion.
“There is yet no cause for alarm. This is because Nigeria has a debt ceiling of 25% in the total public debt stock to Gross Domestic Product (Debt/GDP), which it has operated within. The ratio for Dec. 31 2018 and June 30 2019 were 19.09% and 18.99% respectively.”
The minister also admitted that the government was concerned about the money being spent to service debt.
Nigeria plans to spend about 20 per cent of its 2020 budget on debt servicing.
“The debt service to revenue ratio has however been higher than desirable, hence the push by the government to diversify the economy and increase oil and non-oil revenues significantly. The government is also widening the tax base to capture more tax-paying citizens,” he said.
“You must have read the fake news attributed to Senator Fadahunsi that I am behind the hate speech bill at the National Assembly, and that the senator who is sponsoring the bill is fronting for me.
“This is a typical example of the fake news we are trying to fight.
“I am not the sponsor of the hate speech bill at the National Assembly. However, I remain committed to sanitizing the social media.
“I have said that all stakeholders will be involved in determining the modalities for regulating the social media,” he concluded.
