Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Tinubu administration’s defence of Nigeria’s rising debt profile, accusing the government of celebrating borrowing while citizens face worsening hardship and insecurity.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration over its defence of Nigeria’s rising debt profile, accusing the government of glorifying borrowing despite worsening economic hardship across the country. In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the Presidency appeared disconnected from the realities facing ordinary Nigerians. Concerns have continued to trail Nigeria’s debt profile, which the Debt Management Office recently put at about N154 trillion, even as the World Bank reportedly cancelled a $717 million power sector debt owed by the country.
The criticism followed comments by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga, who defended the government’s borrowing record by stating that Nigeria had not over-borrowed compared to countries such as South Africa and Senegal. Reacting to the remarks, Atiku said the administration’s position was insensitive to the plight of citizens struggling with inflation, hunger and insecurity. “It is both astonishing and insulting that at a time when millions of Nigerians can barely afford one meal a day, when parents are withdrawing children from school because of crushing hardship, when businesses are collapsing under unbearable electricity tariffs and inflation, and when entire communities are being overrun by terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers, the Presidency is celebrating debt figures as though indebtedness itself were an economic achievement,” the statement said.
The former vice president further linked the country’s worsening food crisis to insecurity in farming communities, alleging that many rural areas had fallen under the control of armed groups. “Across the country, farmers can no longer safely access their farmlands because vast territories have effectively fallen under the control of armed gangs and terrorists. Food production has declined sharply because rural communities now live under constant threat of attacks, abductions, and killings. “The inevitable result is what Nigerians are currently witnessing—astronomical food prices, widespread hunger, malnutrition, and rising anger among citizens abandoned by their own government,” Atiku stated.
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