Loans: Atiku Moves To Stop Buhari

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has taken a step to stop President Muhammadu Buhari-led government from collecting more loans from China.

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 general elections has written the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, requesting the National Assembly to reject any new loan request from the Buhari government meant for “projects that are not viable.”

Atiku in the letter forwarded to the Senate President called in the legislature to also halt approval for loans that are not income-generating or production-based.

Atiku noted that the country risked insolvency if it continued to borrow money.

Atiku’s letter, a copy of which was made public on Monday, noted that Nigerians should not fold their hands and watch while the country teeters towards financial peril.

He further stated that as of May 29, 2015, the nation’s total national debt was standing approximately at N12 trillion.

He lamented that as of August 2020, Nigeria’s debt has risen to N28.63 trillion, adding that more alarming was the fact that the foreign debt portion of the country’s national debt has further risen from less than $10 billion on May 29, 2015, to almost $30 billion in August 2020.

“A further cause for concern is the fact that not all of these debts are necessary. A study of the use to which these monies have been put to will show that much of it has gone towards items or projects that are non-productive or viable,” Atiku noted.

The former Vice President noted that the future of youth and unborn generations in the country had been placed in what could very well be bondage-like conditions.

“As such, in view of your role as a check on the excesses of other arms of government, may I suggest that going forward, the National Assembly should refuse to approve any new loan requests, where such loans are to be spent on projects or items that are not income-generating or production-based, or indeed viable,” he said