FG can borrow till eternity – Adamu, APC nat’l chairman

National chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, says the federal government “can borrow from here to eternity”.

Speaking on a programme on Trust Television on Tuesday, Adamu said countries like the US and the UK borrow funds from international financial institutions to meet their needs.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been criticised for his administration’s borrowing to execute projects across the country.

He said: “I remember a programme we had here, I told you and I thought you believed me that I have no quarrel, issues with government borrowing. Government can borrow from here to eternity. The American government borrows, the Canadian government borrows, the United Kingdom borrows, France borrows money from the World Bank and such other institutions”.

“Nigeria is no exception, what I quarrel with is if the money is not used for a purpose and the infrastructure we are developing across the country is from this source.

“You also have to appreciate the fact of the level of revenue accruing to the government, oil is the main thing… We want to see how best we can diversify. These issues affecting the revenue accruing to the government are not our making no matter how good we are, they happen.

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“When some countries sneeze we catch a cold. The Ukrainian crisis with Russia is having an impact on our economy and even in bigger economies than our own so why do we limit ourselves in our thinking.”

Adamu said some senators in the APC are supporting the impeachment bid against Buhari because they did not win tickets to contest in the 2023 polls.

“When this was going on it was part of the heat of those who didn’t get what they wanted and they now capitalize on the pressure of the opposition to be hard.

“It was an opposition drive, they (those who lost tickets) supported it and they put the blame on the party and government,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Atiku Media Office has expressed sadness that the leadership of the All Progressive Congress was still advocating for reckless borrowing amidst an economic tailspin which Nigeria was currently grappling with.

It noted that despite several words of caution by the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who has consistently warned against the unwise decision by the current administration to engage of such borrowing, the APC -led administration continues to toe such part.

Media Adviser to the PDP candidate, Mr. Paul Ibe, said this in a chat with newsmen, in Abuja, on Tuesday.

He was responding to a statement credited to the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu in which he enjoined the federal government to continue borrowing.

Ibe recalled that Atiku had in several statements, articles and tweets, cautioned the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government against mortgaging Nigeria’s future with such borrowings.

He said: “Nigerians will recall that in one of his articles titled: ‘Endless Borrowing Will Lead to Endless Sorrowing,‘ the Wazirin Adamawa foretold the economic disaster we are in today.

“He not only drew government’s attention to the economic dangers but also suggested ways to mitigate it. The APC -led administration ignored him and we are all suffering for it today.

“In his founders day lecture at the American University Yola almost three years ago, quoting from the American, John Quincy Adams, who said, ‘there are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt’.

“Atiku noted that the American may have very well been referring to Nigeria of the last three years prior because Nigeria’s debt serving has now outweighed its income, no Nation runs its economy like this.

“The APC owes Nigerians a duty to at least, stop compounding our woes with additional borrowing to feed consumption”.