Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has asked President Bola Tinubu to give account of loans already obtained before seeking fresh borrowing.
Atiku was reacting to the plan by the Federal Government to obtain an additional $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank at a time the country’s public debt stands at N166.79 trillion.
In a statement issued on Monday by the Director of Strategic Communications of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku accused the Tinubu administration of demanding endless sacrifice from Nigerians while continuously resorting to loans.
He said families are struggling to afford food, fuel and electricity, yet the debt burden continues to rise.
“Nigerians were promised that painful policies would free resources for development. They have felt the pain. Where is the development?” Atiku queried.
He noted that if Nigeria’s public debt were shared among all citizens, each person’s share would be N716,822 today compared to N383,442 three years ago, representing an 87 percent increase.
“Tinubu has made today difficult and tomorrow more uncertain. He cannot keep loading debt onto the country and expect Nigerians to applaud programme titles. What has this government built? Who has benefited? Why should Nigerians trust him with another term in office?” he said.
Atiku acknowledged that the proposed $500 million facilities each for climate resilience, social protection and early childhood development address important needs, but said programme titles cannot replace accountability on how previous loans were utilised.
He demanded that before the new loans are concluded, the government must publish details of projects to be funded, communities and citizens expected to benefit, targets for each programme, terms of borrowing and disbursement and a timetable for delivery.
“Climate resilience must mean identifiable land restored, irrigation delivered and communities protected from flooding. Social protection must identify who receives support and when. Early childhood development must produce measurable gains in nutrition, healthcare and learning,” he stated.
Atiku also asked the government to reconcile its borrowing with claims of increased revenue and savings from petrol subsidy removal.
“If more money is coming in, why does the debt keep climbing? If Nigerians have sacrificed so much, where are the results? A government cannot keep announcing savings, signing loans and asking the same struggling families to wait for relief,” he said.
According to him, the focus should now be on what Nigerians can see and verify rather than the number of programmes announced.
“Show us the money already received. Show us what it built. Show us who benefited. Account for the debt already on Nigeria’s books before borrowing another dollar,” Atiku added.
