Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture,
says there is no cause for alarm over the country's $84 billion debt profile.
The Minister said this at a press conference held today
December 30th where he highlighted the administration’s major achievements in
the year 2019.
There is currently a nationwide outrage over a $29.6 billion
loan request President Buhari sent to the National Assembly. In his letter of
request, President Buhari said the loan is “critical to the delivery of the
government’s policies and programmes”.
Reacting to the outrage, Lai Mohammed at the press confrence
said
“There have been concerns in certain circles about the
country’s growing debt, both domestic and external. In the process, there have
been some misrepresentations and scare mongering. We therefore believe it is
important to put things in the right perspective, so our citizens will be well
informed.
The public debt stock is actually a cumulative figure of
borrowings by successive governments over many years. It is therefore not
appropriate to attribute the public debt stock to one administration.
Nigeria’s total public debt stock in 2015 was $63.80
billion, comprising $10.31 billion of external debt and $53.49 billion domestic
debt. By June 2019, the total debt stock was $83.883 billion, made up of
$27.163 billion of external debt and $56.720 billion domestic debt. It is
therefore not correct to say that Nigeria’s external debt alone is $81.274
billion.
There is yet no cause for alarm. This is because Nigeria has
a debt ceiling of 25% in the total public debt stock to Gross Domestic Product
(Debt/GDP), which it has operated within. The ratio for Dec. 31 2018 and June
30 2019 were 19.09% and 18.99% respectively.
The debt service to revenue ratio has however been higher
than desirable, hence the push by the government to diversify the economy and
increase oil and non-oil revenues significantly. The government is also
widening the tax base to capture more tax-paying citizens.”
Lai Mohammed also denied claims made by a member of the
Nigerian Senate, Sen. Francis Fadahunsi, that he is the sponsor of the
controversial Hate Speech bill. Fadahunsi in a recent media chat, alleged that
Mohammed is behind the bill aimed at crippling quality and vibrant journalism.
Reacting to the allegation, Mohammed said
You must have read the fake news attributed to Sen.
Fadahunsi that I am behind the hate speech bill at the National Assembly, and
that the senator who is sponsoring the bill is fronting for me. This is a
typical example of the fake news we are trying to fight.
I am not the sponsor of the hate speech bill at the National
Assembly. However, I remain committed to sanitising the social media. I have
said that all stakeholders will be involved in determining the modalities for
regulating the social media''.
