Fmr. President Olusegun Obasanjo.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s comment that that borrowing is not leprosy, was Friday described as “absolute nonsense”. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said at the Ajibosin Platform, a public forum in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, themed “Leveraging artificial intelligence to solve grassroots problems and accelerate national development”.
Tinubu in April defended his administration’s borrowing policy, saying the government would continue to take loans whenever necessary.
Said the President then: “If we have to borrow, we borrow. Borrowing is not leprosy; we just have to work hard to be able to pay for it”.
However, Obasanjo said debt was more damaging than leprosy because its consequences could affect generations.
Said Obasanjo: “And for anybody to say debt is no leprosy is absolute nonsense. Debt is worse than leprosy. Because leprosy destroys only one person. Debt destroys generations”.
Obasanjo’s remarks came days after Tinubu asked the National Assembly to approve a supplementary external borrowing plan of $20.52 billion and €1.04 billion to finance projects and programmes across several sectors.
The President’s request was conveyed in a letter read by Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, during plenary on Tuesday.
Tinubu said the proposed loans would fund projects in power, transportation, healthcare, education, agriculture, water supply, security, job creation and financial management reforms.
Days later, the President defended his administration’s borrowing from international institutions and banks, arguing that Nigeria needed sustained infrastructure investment to achieve its ambition of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Stated Tinubu in an essay titled ‘From Reforms to Delivery: Our Infrastructure Investment and Growth Strategy’: “The real question is not how much we borrow, but what we build, what value we create and what future we leave behind”.
However, Obasanjo questioned Nigeria’s economic performance over the past 47 years, citing the depreciation of the Naira against the Dollar.
The former President recalled that when he started his farm 47 years ago, the Naira exchanged at N1 to $1.85.
Asked he: “When I started my farm, 47 years ago, Naira to the Dollar was one Naira to $1.85 forty-seven years ago. What has Nigeria done in 47 years that we now have 1,500 Naira to the Dollar? What have we done?” .
He also questioned the ability of Nigeria’s political leaders to make decisions that would improve citizens’ living conditions.
Querried he: “What do our leaders know? And what do they not know? And from what they know, what can they do for us?”
Obasanjo criticised Nigeria’s reliance on foreign institutions, particularly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), arguing that their economic prescriptions might not reflect the country’s peculiar circumstances.
He recalled that Nigeria had been discouraged from subsidising agriculture despite developed countries providing support to their farmers.
Noted he: “World Bank and IMF were not designed for us. They were not built by us. They were built before we became independent. And that’s the people who would determine what we do”.
The former President cautioned against blindly adopting economic recommendations from foreign-trained experts without taking Nigeria’s realities into account.
