The Federal Government says the \u201calarm and doom\u201d predictions by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on the country\u2019s debt profile is anchored on a false premise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government position is contained in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement was signed by Segun Adeyemi, Special Assistant To The President (Media), Office of The Minister of Information and Culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the statement, the minister stressed that the scenarios on the country\u2019s debt profile as painted by Mr Atiku in a release he issued on Tuesday had no basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Mohammed said while the Federal Government welcomed constructive criticism, such must be based on verifiable facts rather than \u201cconjectures and innuendos\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no doubt that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar loves our country and wishes it well, otherwise he would not have sustained his serial quest for the country\u2019s highest position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne can only hope that his resort to the use of such words as \u2018precipice\u2019, \u2018foreclosure\u2019 and \u2018economic ruin\u2019 does not reflect anything but best wishes for the country at this time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The minister said the figure of Nigeria\u2019s debt to revenue ratio of 99 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, quoted by Mr Atiku was not in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, where he claimed he got it from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are also not able to ascertain the source of the first quarter figures of N943.12 billion for debt servicing and N950.56 billion for retained revenue, which he also quoted,\u201d he said..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The minister said the debt service provisions in the annual budgets include principal repayments, interest payments and all other applicable charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTherefore, the statement that debt servicing does not equate to debt repayment is not only wrong, but ill-informed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the former Vice President\u2019s assertion that revenue needed to go up, Mr Mohammed said the administration had introduced several measures to shore up revenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He listed some of the measures as the passage and implementation of the Finance Act, 2019, various on-going reforms in the Oil and Gas sector, Tax Administration and Collections, as well as the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Mr Mohammed, Nigeria\u2019s debt service is expressly provided in the annual budgets and the debt service payments are made as and when due.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said based on provision and the payments, the issue of creditors foreclosing on Nigeria as predicted by the former Vice President did not arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The minister said Nigeria had not experienced alarming and unprecedented increase in the ratios of debt to GDP and debt service to revenue as posited by Mr Atiku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said to the contrary, the country\u2019s ratio of debt to GDP was one of the lowest in the world at 19.00 per cent as at December 31, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Mohammed added that the government is making concerted efforts to increase revenue so as to bring down the ratio of debt service to revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the reasons why debt service to revenue is high is because revenue generation in Nigeria has been low, with over-dependence on the oil sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is corroborated by the fact that the ratio of Nigeria\u2019s tax revenue to GDP is one of the lowest in the world at about six per cent,\u2019\u2019 the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Government says the \u201calarm and doom\u201d predictions by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on the country\u2019s debt profile is anchored on a false premise. The government position is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":115265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3349,19290,176],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Buhari-and-Atiku.jpg?fit=788%2C444&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118474,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/pdps-brand-of-opposition-poses-threat-to-nigerias-democracy-lai-mohammed\/","url_meta":{"origin":141248,"position":0},"title":"PDP\u2019s Brand of Opposition Poses Threat to Nigeria\u2019s Democracy \u2013 Lai Mohammed","author":"Damilare Salami","date":"May 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Federal Government on Wednesday said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar should stop beating the drums of war in the country. 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