Peter Obi Slams Tinubu Govt Over “Fiscal Rascality”, Questions Contemporary ₦20trn Mortgage Plan
The 2023 Labour Celebration presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has urged the Federal Authorities to place an finish to what he described as fiscal rascality, notably the sample of uncontrolled and unexplained borrowing that doesn’t contribute to productive sectors of the economic system.
Obi, in a publish on his verified X deal with on Friday, criticised the federal government’s plan to safe about ₦20 trillion in new loans to finance the 2026 finances.
Based on him, the borrowing plan is alarming at a time when debt servicing is projected to eat almost half of the nation’s income, and when the nation’s borrowing requirement has risen by greater than 72 %.
He questioned the rationale behind planning contemporary multi-trillion-naira loans for 2026 when the 2024 finances remains to be being carried out and the 2025 finances seems untouched.
Obi wrote, “The place is the income from 2025? How can we be discussing trillions in new borrowing for 2026 once we are nonetheless implementing the 2024 finances? This means, very clearly, that the 2025 finances remains to be untouched and unimplemented.
“So, the place are all of the revenues that accrued in 2025, even once we had been informed that income targets had been surpassed since August?”
He warned that steady borrowing for consumption slightly than production would endanger the nation’s future.
“We can not hold mortgaging the way forward for our kids via inconsiderate borrowing. Nations don’t develop by consuming greater than they produce.
“They develop by producing, exporting, creating worth, and constructing sturdy establishments that guarantee accountability,” he stated.
Obi added that the federal government can not boast of elevated income whereas concurrently pushing borrowing to historic ranges.
“Governance should be constructed on transparency, not propaganda. We can not construct a brand new Nigeria on the inspiration of deceptive figures, rising money owed, shrinking production, and steady hardship. Our nation should transfer ahead,” he added.