Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State has said that Nigerians are becoming poorer and the economy stagnating because the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is borrowing for the wrong reasons.
He said unlike other developing countries of the world who are borrowing money to execute policies, Nigeria under Buhari borrows for consumption rather than production which would have a direct impact on the lives of the citizenry.
Obi stated this while featuring as guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics. According to him, the nation’s economy is not being properly managed.
“Are you borrowing for productivity or you’re borrowing for consumption. My worry here is that we are borrowing for consumption.
“I am saying that the country is not productive and there is nothing wrong in borrowing; if you are borrowing, then it shouldn’t be for consumption and that’s why more and more people are getting poorer,” ObI said.
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He noted that the country must increase support for medium, small and micro enterprises like its peers globally to grow the economy and provide jobs for the Nigerians.
According to him, “that engine today is not being supported in Nigeria. Nigeria has a total of 40 million SMEs but there is no properly articulated fiscal and monetary policy to support the critical sector.
“The entire loan to the private sector in Nigeria today is about N30 trillion. Less than N1.5 trillion is going to SMEs. This is less than five percent of the entire loan. This means Nigeria is not supporting its engine that can enhance the nation’s economic growth”.
The former governor stressed that the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) cannot be growing while the people are getting poorer.
Obi, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and vice-presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections, is of the view that the kind of growth Nigeria needs is one that pulls people out of poverty with disposable income to feed themselves.
He added that the nation needs the kind of growth that will educate the children and provide primary health care for all communities.
“These are critical areas we want to go into,” he added, noting that Nigeria must do away with speculative growth that is given media hype without positively affecting the masses.
