Fayose raises alarm over Buhari's China trip to borrow $2bn

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has raised the alarm over President Muhammadu Buhari’s scheduled trip to China to borrow $2 billion as part of the N1.84 trillion pro­grammed to be borrowed to fi­nance the 2016 Budget, describing the move as an attempt to mortgage the future of Nigeria and its people.

In a release issued yesterday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said, “In Elementary Economics, you don’t propose to spend more when your income reduces and I still can’t understand this Buhari­nomics in which Nigeria is going to spend N6.06 trillion with crude oil bench mark of $38 per barrel when the country’s budget was N4.5 tril­lion in 2015 when crude oil bench mark was $53 per barrel.”

The governor, who said the 2016 Budget was not a reflection of the present economic reality in the country, added that, “By the time they borrow N1.84 trillion to fund their N6.06 trillion budget, I won­der how Nigeria will survive in 2017 when the Federal Government will be servicing debt with about 50 per­cent of its budget.”

It has been widely reported that Nigeria wants to raise about $5 bil­lion abroad to cover part of its 2016 Budget deficit. This was said to be projected to hit N3 trillion ($15 bil­lion) due to heavy infrastructure spending at a time when the slump in global oil prices has slashed its export revenues.

He said since the President claimed to have recovered and still recovering trillions of Naira looted from the treasury and over N3 tril­lion saved from the Treasury Sin­gle Account (TSA), the 2016 Budget should be funded with the recov­ered fund.

The governor said he was alert­ing Nigerians of the danger in the Federal Government’s plan to fund the 2016 Budget with loan, adding that, “Tomorrow, it will be said of me that I did not keep silent when Nigeria was being mortgaged to un­necessary debt.”

He warned that with the pro­posed N1.84 trillion borrowing, $2 billion of which President Buhari is already going to borrow in China, the nation may soon be going the way of Greece because Nigeria will be borrowing N5 billion per day for the next 365 days.

Source: The Authority