The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has raised alarm over the increasing debt in the country. He stated that among other producing countries in Africa, Nigeria has been on a borrowing bench, “Borrowing domestically to fund current expenditure”.
He added that the growth of Nigeria was driven largely by rising commodity prices and debt, adding that the module has reached the logical limit such as the collapse in oil price. He said according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Federal Government of Nigeria is spending 66% of its interest revenue on debt, which means only 34% of its revenue was available for capital expenditure, recurrent expenditure and development.
The Emir made this known at the Kaduna State Investment Summit with the theme “Making Kaduna Investment Destination of Choice”. He said the 2017 budget presented by the Federal Government is a budget that goes for more debt. He said: “As a country, we must understand that the module of government borrowing and spending has reached its limit, therefore growth must only come from investment”.
The Emir crtiticised leaders that go to China to sign MoU and come back with debts forgetting their areas of development. He said: “A nation and a state is only transformed by vision, once that vision is lost every other thing around the vision collapses”.
He added that the growth of an economy will not come by borrowing. In his keynote address, he urged the northern leaders to focus more on education and health sector especially in the north. He asked them to use their resources to deal with the issues of poverty in their region.
The occasion was well attended by industrialists, traditional rulers, media owners and government functionaries.
(Vangaurd)
