Returning and incoming governors on Wednesday, criticised Nigeria’s mounting debt, with some expressing concern that the nation might collapse if urgent steps were not taken to halt the trend.
Rising from the just concluded 2023 induction Programme for governors, organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), some governors expressed the view that the country cannot continue to borrow perpetually.
The governors were responding to the warnings by Director- General of World Trade Organisation, (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo – Iweala, that the incoming and re- elected governors must be mindful of acquiring huge debt profile for their various states across the country.
She had at the opening of the induction, said it has become imperative for governors to focus on debt management because the country has challenges on the fiscal, debt and monetary policy fronts as the nation’s gross debt level had risen from N19.3 trillion in 2015 to $N91.6 trillion in 2023, adding that the Debt-to-GDP ratio has almost doubled from 20 percent to 39 percent over the same period.
The Governor of Bauchi state, Bala Mohammed, for instance, bemoaned the fact that the nation’s debt service costs accounted for 95percent of its income and issued a dire warning that without action, the nation would collapse.
SOURCE: THE SUN
