A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Professor Kingsley Moghalu has carpeted the economic and financial policies of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
He lamented that the Buhari government is only accumulating needless debts at the expense of Nigerians and unborn generations while poverty, unemployment, and inflation keep increasing.
Moghalu was of the view that Nigeria has not seen any economic benefit from the huge and continuous borrowings of the present administration.
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He, therefore, slammed the Buhari government as irresponsible and insensitive to the cries of the citizens, adding that the government seems unconcerned because it will leave power in 2023 and the incoming governments will have to deal with the pressure of the loans.
Moghalu spoke to newsmen in Abuja and said: “This government will go down in history as a government that has embarked on profligate and irresponsible borrowing to an extent that has never happened in the history of this country. And the sad thing is that these loans are not productive.
“We are not seeing the economic benefits of these loans. Poverty is increasing in Nigeria. The Naira’s value continues to depreciate. Unemployment continues to rise. Inflation is at a very high level.
“So, there is nothing to show for these borrowings. You are borrowing to spend in recurrent expenditure.
“Out of a budget of N16 trillion, about N10trillion will go to recurrent expenditure and debt service. So Nigeria is an economy that is actually in a state of economic collapse held afloat by foreign borrowing and Central Bank borrowing by the government.
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“It is not a good situation but I do not think that the capacity or the political will exists for this to stop before 2023 because it’s become like a bad habit, it’s become like a drug that a junkie craves because there clearly is not the ability to come up with more innovative solutions to raise revenue base inside the country and this now makes the government feel compelled to keep borrowing. But this is in my view dangerous. Who will pay these loans?
“I feel that there is an element of callousness in this direction of economic policy because I feel there is a sense that 2023 will come we will walk away from it and somebody else will handle it.
“That is what I perceive because despite all the criticisms from the business community, from economists all over the country, and from citizens, they just continue to borrow.
“So, there is no responsiveness to the cries of Nigerians that they are mortgaging our future. There is no solution therefore that is not a political solution in 2023. Politics as usual is a no go area for Nigeria in 2023.”
He warned that if Nigerians don’t elect a sound leader in 2023, President Buhari has created enough problems that will make the country degenerate into an Afghanistan-like situation.
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He, therefore, cautioned that Nigerians must vote an intellectually sound and economically competent president to take over from Buhari in 2023.
“Otherwise, this country will literarily collapse into an Afghanistan-like situation if in 2023 we do not elect a government led by a president that is economically competent and sound to begin to turn around our economy. That must be our number one priority. If we just play politics as usual – politics without governance – we get very bad outcomes.
“It will just keep getting worse. There is hope but that hope rests in the decisions that Nigerians make in 2023.”
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