Edo State Governor Obaseki has raised an alarm over the state of Nigeria’s economy and country’s rising debt profile. According to him, borrowing money to meet the country’s ailing economic needs is no longer tenable.
Governor Obaseki spoke on Wednesday during a meeting with the Transition Committee members at the Government House in Benin.
“In another year or so, where will we find this money that we go to Abuja to share every month? Last month, we got FAAC for March. The Federal Government printed an additional ?50 to ?60 billion to top-up for us to share,” he said.
“We say remove subsidy, they say no. This April, next week again, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, the total borrowing is going to be in excess of ?15 to ?16 trillion.
“My worry is that we will wake up one day like Argentina, the naira will be ?1,000, ?2,000 and will be moving because we don’t have money coming in. You are just borrowing, borrowing and borrowing without any means or idea of how to pay back.” he said
While speaking, he also noted that the major oil giants like Chevron and Shell no longer invest so much oil as was obtainable in the past. He noted that Chevron is now one of the world’s investors in alternative fuel and Shell intends to pull out of Nigeria.
Source: NewsWire
