The outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has made sure he is leaving a huge debt profile of N80 trillion when he leaves the villa on Monday, May 29. Well, well, well. While he will be celebrating in Daura or in Niger Republic, we shall be sorting out the mess he has created for us in last eight years. No problem. By popular demand, I want to republish an article I wrote that was published on 21 January 2021.
“In June 2005, we were so ecstatic in celebrating the debt relief offered us, a relief of over $20 billion, which was beyond the total revenue of Nigeria for one year. So happy were we that President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, had to make a broadcast to the nation on June 30, 2005. He followed the broadcast by appearing before the joint sitting of the National Assembly on July 26, 2005 to speak on the issue.
In the broadcast, he declared: ‘How did we work to get out of this debt quagmire? We did it by resolving and working hard to break with the past; by identifying new voices and new leaders; and by rejecting business as usual and voting for new values of accountability, transparency, fair competition, social justice, and the upliftment of the living standards of Nigerians.
We revamped our institutions and put in place an economic agenda that reduced the role of the state in the economy while strengthening the place and role of private investors. We mounted a vigorous global campaign to make a good case for debt relief’. He commended the economic management team and assured that Nigeria will never fall into such trap again.
“How about the future? We must learn from the past. We must all show collective responsibility to prevent a return to the past. We must all commit ourselves to protecting, rather than squandering the future of our children. We must all agree not to remove the solid blocks on which our nation stands by accumulating debts that we cannot repay. May God never let us go through this painful path again’, he declared. We were all so happy at that time. Several people commended the government for the action including Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, and General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), GCFR.
Others, who commended the government at that time were the Senate President, Ken Nnamani, the Speaker of the House of Representatives at that time, Aminu Bello Masari, the former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme. Others were Mohammed Danjuma Goje, Abdullahi Adamu, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Chief Ebere Udeagu, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Chief Sunday Fajimi, Engr. Hamman Tukur, ambassador Agboola Isaac Aluko-Olokun, Honorables Farouk Lawan, John Agoda, Kayode Amusan, Kelechi Nwagwu, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, Oba Omo N’Oba Erediauwa, Reverend Dr. Wilson Badejo, Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, Alhaji Mansur Ahmed, Alhaji Lateef Owoyemi, Mr. Charles Ugwu, Dr. Sonnu Folorunso Kuku, Dr. Cecilia Ibru, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Chief Frank Kokori, Mr. Harry Nwana, Dr. Elizabeth Solere, Brig. Gen(rtd.) Mohammed Buba Marwa, Prince Chidi Chukwuani, Mr. Kenneth Orkuma Hembe, Comrade Zik Gbemre, Mr. Cordel Okafor, Mr. Bisi Olawunmi, Dr. Uma Eleeazu, Dr. Stanley Macebuh, Prof. Nimi Briggs, Mr. Chijama Ogbu, Mr. Joseph Omowa, Mr. Adesoji Olugbenga, Mr. Moses Olurunwa, Dr. Boniface Chizea and others.
Others, outside Nigeria, who commended the central government at that time, were the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, Hilary Benn, International Development Secretary UK, Mr Idrissa Thiam, Senior Resident Representative of IMF in Nigeria, Ms Romilly Greenhill, Policy Officer, Action Aid, and Mr Marc Balston, Debt. Strategist Deutsche Bank, London.
To me the comment of General Yakubu Gowon (85), GCFR, was most meaningful. He was in power for nine uninterrupted years and throughout his tenure, 1966 to 1975, Nigeria did not borrow a kobo. He should be commended along with his Ministers of Finance who managed Nigeria’s finance during the civil war, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, GCFR, (6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987), Alhaji Usman Aliyu Shehu Shagari, GCFR, (February 25, 1925 – December 28, 2018), and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance at that time, Prince Abdul Aziz Attah (1920-1972), son of the late Attah of Igbirra in Kogi state. General Gowon said at that time: “Let’s hope that no government will ever again commit the future generation to such a heavy burden of debt”.
Let me say a word about Prince Attah. He was educated at Okene Elementary and Middle Schools between 1926 and 1935. In 1936, he entered the Achimota College, Ghana, and studied there until 1944 when he went to Belliol College, Oxford, England, graduating in 1947 in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Returning to Nigeria the following year, he entered the government service as Cadet Administrative Officer in the then unified Nigeria Public Services.
He served in Calabar, Opobo, Ikot-Ekpene and former Southern Cameroons, all then under the Eastern Region, and after the division of the Public Service continued to serve in that Region; he was District Officer in Umuahia before obtaining the important post of Private Secretary to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Premier of the Eastern Region.
Then, he was Secretary to the Agent-General for the Region in Britain; Training Officer in the Regional Ministry of Finance, Enugu; and Secretary for Annang Province. He moved to the Federal Public Service as Administrative Officer, Class III in 1958, and was promoted Permanent Secretary in 1960, and headed in turn the ministries of Defence, Communications, Industries and Finance.
He occupied the vital post of the Permanent Secretary, Finance, from 1966 through the years of civil war with all its effects on the country’s finances. In December 1970 he was appointed Administrative Officer (Principal Grade), and became Secretary to the Federal Military Government and Head of the Federal Civil Service. Alhaji Attah died on June 12, 1972 at the Royal Free Hospital, London.
In July 2005, the Federal Ministry of Information celebrated debt relief by publishing a pamphlet titled “Broken Chains”. Now 16 years after, we are back to square one. Sixteen years after, we are back to the ‘unbroken chains’. I do not know what will happen now, but certainly, we have messed up.
In terms of the management of our economy, we have missed our way. We are back in recession again. And in spite of the optimism being expressed by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, we do not know how to get out of the recession, and when we are going to get out of it. Between 2005 and now, we cannot point to anything substantive we have done with the money we borrowed.
According to a report by Premium Times, Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased by about N2.38 trillion, or $6.59 billion, as of June 30 last year. The Premium Times quoted the Debt Management Office (DMO) that the country’s total debt portfolio grew from about N28.62 trillion, or $79.30 billion, as of March 31 to over N31.01 trillion, or $85.90 billion, in the period under review.
Details of the increment, the DMO said, showed about $3.36 billion came from Budget Support Loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while the balance are new domestic borrowings to finance the revised 2020 Appropriation Act.
The new domestic borrowings include a N162.56 billion Sukuk and promissory notes issued to settle claims of exporters. The data showed the new debt figure comprised the debt stock of the federal government, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.
The total external debt stands at about N11.36 trillion, or $31.48 billion, about 35.65 per cent of the overall outlay, against total domestic debt of about N19.95 trillion, or $54.42 billion, about 63.35 per cent of the total portfolio. Of the total external debt stock, the federal government accounted for N9.82 trillion, or $27.21 billion (about 31.6 per cent) of external debts; and N15.46 trillion, or $42.81 billion (about 49.84 per cent) of the domestic debts.
The states and the FCT owe about N1.54 trillion, or $4.26 billion (about 4.96 per cent) of the total external debt figure, and about N4.19 trillion, or $11.61 billion, (13.51 per cent) of the total domestic debt figure.
To be continued tomorrow
Teniola, a former Director at the Presidency, writes from Lagos.
