Former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has described the latest revelation that the Federal Government exceeded its 2024 borrowing limit by ₦4.79 trillion, pushing fresh borrowing to ₦12.62 trillion, as further proof that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration has completely lost control of the nation’s finances.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said Nigerians were promised that the painful removal of fuel subsidy, repeated tax hikes and other harsh economic measures would reduce borrowing and restore fiscal stability. Instead, the country is witnessing the exact opposite: endless borrowing, ballooning debt and unprecedented waste.

According to the Budget Office, the Federal Government borrowed 61.2 per cent above what was approved by the National Assembly. Worse still, an additional ₦3.19 trillion classified as “budget support” was obtained despite no such provision existing in the approved budget, with no clear disclosure of its source.

Atiku said this is not an isolated incident, lamenting that it fits into a disturbing pattern that has become the defining signature of the Tinubu administration: duplication, opacity and reckless fiscal management.

The former VP added that this is the same government that has been caught creating fake agencies, padding budgets with duplicated allocations, hiding trillions under the mysterious Service Wide Vote, allocating obscene sums for luxury SUVs while critical sectors gasp for survival, and now borrowing far beyond the limits approved by law.

“What exactly is all this borrowing funding? Certainly not education, where children continue to learn under deplorable conditions. Certainly not healthcare, where hospitals remain underfunded. Certainly not security, where innocent Nigerians are massacred while security agencies complain of inadequate funding. Certainly not infrastructure, because the roads remain death traps and electricity has become an expensive luxury,” Atiku stressed.

He added that the tragedy is that Nigerians are being forced to service debts whose benefits they cannot see, lamenting that even more troubling is the contradiction that defines this administration.

“Only days ago, it emerged that high crude oil prices have handed the Federal Government an estimated ₦7.98 trillion oil windfall, yet instead of reducing borrowing, the government has continued to pile debt upon debt. A government earning windfalls while borrowing recklessly is not suffering from lack of revenue; it is suffering from lack of discipline,” Atiku said.

“The Budget Office report further reveals that debt servicing alone consumed ₦12.36 trillion, exceeding the budget by more than 52 per cent. Nigeria is fast approaching the dangerous point where the government exists primarily to borrow in order to repay previous borrowings. This is not economic reform. It is fiscal vandalism.

“No responsible government mortgages the future of unborn generations while simultaneously presiding over duplicated budgets, wasteful expenditures, opaque financial practices and an ever-expanding bureaucracy.

“The question Nigerians must now ask is simple: where is all the money going? When revenues increase, borrowing also increases. When taxes increase, borrowing still increases. When subsidy is removed, borrowing accelerates. When budgets are padded and duplicated, borrowing becomes the answer once again. This is not governance. It is a debt addiction.”

The ADC, according to Atiku, believes Nigeria deserves a government that lives within its means, eliminates waste, restores transparency, blocks leakages and channels public resources into productive investments rather than financing an endless cycle of borrowing.

Atiku stated that the Nigerian people cannot continue paying today’s taxes to service yesterday’s loans while tomorrow’s generations inherit only debt. (Guardian)

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