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Nigeria heading for insolvency over debt servicing burden, Sanusi warns

By Emeka Nwachukwu (Lagos) and Murtala Adewale (Kano)
26 June 2019   |   4:14 am
Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said Nigeria risks going into bankruptcy if the Federal Government continues spending...

[file photo] Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II

• Homegrown technology to drive economy, says Osinbajo
Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said Nigeria risks going into bankruptcy if the Federal Government continues spending 70 per cent of its revenue on debt servicing.

Besides, he warned that the nation might equally not be spared of insolvency if the President Muhammadu Buhari administration keeps committing huge resources on petroleum and other commodities in the name of subsidy.

The nation’s current debt liability is N24.4trillion, an increase of 12.25 percent from the 2017 figure.

Though the Accountant General of the Federation, Idris Ahmed, maintained the debt profile was sustainable, the monarch, nevertheless, pointed out that the country’s balance sheet was already over-stretched.

Speaking at the opening of third National Treasury Workshop with the theme, Accountability and Transparency as Catalyst to Economic Recovery: The Role of the Treasury and other Stakeholders in Kano, Sanusi insisted that the president’s promise to lead millions of Nigerians out of poverty can only be realistic if the commonwealth being drained by petroleum and electricity subsidies was channeled to education, health and infrastructure.

Regretting the huge spending on fixed operational servicing of debts amid slide of foreign exchanges and other changes in the international matrix, the emir added that Nigeria spends 100 per cent of its foreign earnings on imported goods.

He, therefore, urged the treasury managers to be firm and open in advising government on the implication of the alleged reckless spending on subsidies at the detriment of social welfare and infrastructure development.

In spite of this, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the nation’s current indigenous technology solutions were capable of driving the desired growth in the economy to make it one of best in the world.

He promised that government would leverage the efforts and resourcefulness of youths to actualise its objectives.
Osinbajo stated this while interacting with interested investors and foreign policy experts on Nigeria’s economic prospects and related matters at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, United States.

In a statement yesterday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, the vice president noted that the potential, effort and impact being made by Nigerians in technology could enable the country roll out indigenous technology solutions that could transform the global space.

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