PDP governors raise alarm over Nigeria’s rising debts profile

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have cautioned the the All Progressives Congress (APC) – led federal government against the rate at which is borrowing money to fund projects in the country.

The governors made this known  at the end of the meeting of the PDP Governors’ Forum held in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

The communique issued at the end of the meeting read in part, “Money should only be borrowed for productive purposes as Nigeria’s current debt of over N36 trillion is becoming clearly unsustainable relative to our earnings and GDP.

“We should not saddle incoming generations with an undue debt burden. The borrowing spree of the APC administration if unchecked will certainly lead Nigeria into avoidable bankruptcy.

They further lamented that the debt profile of Nigeria with over 80 per cent of normal appropriation spent on debt servicing was rising and becoming uncontrollable.

According to the PDP governors, all the gains of the PDP government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo when the nation exited its foreign debt obligations had been destroyed.

They, also accused the present administration of borrowing for frivolous items, adding that such an action was scandalous.

The governors condemned the operational system and methods of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which they claimed was functioning as an independent government-within-a-government.

“A situation where CBN creates money, decides how much of it to spend, on what to spend it on without any form of controls or supervision is patently subversive of our constitutional order.

“It has become not just a leviathan, but also a Father Christmas of sorts, dabbling into every sphere and scope of governmental activity, not just as a lender of last resort, but as a full executing agency of government,” the communique said.

It continued, “The meeting observed that the CBN has become such an octopus that it threatens state governments publicly, without decorum, about sanctions on any attempt to question its Modus Operandi. The CBN should take immediate steps to halt the depreciation of the naira.”