By Yemi Adebowale
The 2021 federal budget is N13.8 trillion. It has a deficit of N5.6 trillion and this will be funded, largely, through external borrowing. Over 30 per cent of the funds for this budget 2021 will be loans. This is why President Muhammadu Buhari is asking the National Assembly to approve N2.3 trillion ($6.18 billion) external loan to enable him fund part of the 2021 budget. The loan is part of N4.6 trillion federal lawmakers had earlier approved for his government as contained in the 2021 Appropriation Act. About 33 per cent of budget 2021 is set aside for debt servicing. Is this nonsense making sense?
This is the level Nigeria has degenerated while binge-borrowing. Budget figures of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have become voodoo numbers. They persistently bamboozle Nigerians with humorous numerals. The long and the shot of all these confusing figures is that Nigeria is in serious financial mess compounded by binge-borrowing by the Buhari government. This country parades a long list of creditors – World Bank, African Development Bank, French Development Agency, Islamic Development Bank, China EXIM Bank, China Development Bank, European Investment Bank, European ECA, KFW, IPEX, AFC, India EXIM Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development and the rest of them.
