Nigeria faces insolvency, Atiku warns

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, says Nigeria faces a major financial crisis unless the federal government ensures prudent management of the nation’s resources in order to secure it for future generations.

He said this in a statement titled, “We Must Keep Nigeria Financially Solvent For Future Generations,” which he signed in Abuja, on Friday.

He recalled that on June 16, 2020, he sounded an alarm over the nation’s rising debt profile which he noted had reached unsustainable levels.

According to him, the fact that the country was spending over 90 per cent of its revenue on debt servicing was unhealthy and unsustainable.

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Atiku said, “That warning was a patriotic one, devoid of partisanship, and was meant as a wake up call to prevent the nation from going into insolvency.

“At that time, I said, ‘We are on a precipice and if revenue figures do not rise quickly, Nigeria risks a situation where revenue cannot even sustain its debt servicing obligations. Meaning that we may become insolvent and our creditors may foreclose on us, as has occurred in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.’

 “The alarm I sounded last year is now sounding louder.

“Interestingly, on Thursday, August 26, 2021, the Budget Office of the same administration released a statement to the effect that Nigeria made N2.23tn revenue in the first half of 2021, and spent N2.02tn on debt servicing, representing 90.58 per cent  of National revenue in the period under review (H1).