Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned President Muhammadu Buhari to stop accumulating debts for future generations with his administration’s penchant for external loans.
Obasanjo, who spoke on Sunday at an event in South Africa, faulted President Buhari’s plans to access fresh loans from abroad.
This is as the Federal Government is planning to take a fresh loan amid outcries by Nigerians.
Buhari, a few days ago, requested the approval of the National Assembly to borrow the fresh sums of $4,054,476,863 and €710 million.
Reacting to this, former President Obasanjo, said the move for loans which the next generation would struggle to pay is criminal.
He spoke with Channels Television in South Africa.
According to Obasanjo the move might become a huge problem for successive governments.
He said that borrowing is not a problem, but the utilisation of the borrowed fund and the plan or capacity to pay back.
He said, “But if you are borrowing and accumulating debts for the next generation and the next generation after them, it is criminal. What are you borrowing for?
“If we are borrowing for recurrent expenditure, it is the height of folly. If we are borrowing for development that can pay for itself, that is understandable. Then the payment, how long will it take to pay itself?”