Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, has warned the Federal Government that taking on more debt will never be a solution to the nation’s debt problems.
Former vice president Atiku claimed in a statement on Tuesday that the administration has been overly optimistic about the reported growth rate of 3.4% since the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced the GDP numbers for Q2 2022 last week.
According to Waziri Adamawa, the economy is in worse shape than the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration is ready to acknowledge.
The former president bemoaned the fact that the level of suffering among the populace remained unchanged under President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC.
Atiku ascribed the hardship on the slow growth and deterioration of the manufacturing, oil and gas, and agricultural industries.
“Second, unabated are rising commodity prices occasioned by high energy and transportation costs (and aggravated by the disorderliness in the forex market).”
“Also, debt levels continue to rise while the fiscal capacity to service its debts is declining. All these are enough to erase the perceived gains from output growth.
“Having run out of ideas, it appears that our unprecedented level of indebtedness is whetting the government’s appetite for more debt. This is a recipe for macroeconomic instability.
“We challenge the National Bureau of Statistics to share with the public their recent statistics on poverty, unemployment and commodity prices — the reality of which will leave no hope for the common man.
“Like I have said before, increasing debts will never be a solution to our indebtedness. My government, if elected, will halt the rate of debt accumulation and instead focus on private-public partnerships in financing development.”
Atiku pointed out that the idea of a government of national unity would cool things down, bring Nigerians together, and open the door to better security.
He contends that increased security encourages investment, which boosts the economy.
