Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the Tinubu administration’s pursuit of a proposed $500 million World Bank loan.
The former vp stated that President Tinubu can’t borrow within the last days of his tenure and depart his can be administration and the Nigerian folks to repay it.
According to Atiku, ”No outgoing president has the precise to burden his successor with contemporary debt days earlier than handing over energy.”
Atiku, in a assertion issued by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication, ADC Presidential Campaign Council, stated, “Taking loans as for those who have been a drunken sailor is a highway to financial bondage, a second slavery. If this authorities is set to mortgage Nigeria’s future and place our nation on the mercy of collectors, we is not going to settle for it.
“On January 16, Nigerians will vote for a new course: a authorities that places reasonably priced dwelling first, not one which retains pursuing loans whose phrases and penalties haven’t been clearly defined to the folks.
“The Tinubu administration’s newest transfer is a preemptive try to lock Nigeria into a path of financial instability, even after Nigerians have roundly rejected its poverty inflicting reforms. A authorities can’t use its last days in workplace to bind the nation and make governance tougher for its successor.
“According to the report, the proposed $500 million facility is scheduled for consideration on May 25, 2027, simply 4 days earlier than the subsequent presidential inauguration. President Tinubu has no enterprise committing the nation to contemporary debt as he prepares to depart workplace.
“As the Swahili proverb warns, ‘If you borrow a man’s legs, you’ll go the place he directs.’ A pacesetter who borrows on his method out leaves his successor strolling on the lender’s legs, constrained by obligations and decisions the folks didn’t make.
“We name on the World Bank to not approve this proposed loan on the timetable now being contemplated. Nigerians deserve full disclosure of its phrases, dangers and compensation obligations, and the chance to scrutinise a dedication that may outlast the administration pursuing it.
“I will not accept it. The Atiku administration will commence on May 29, 2027, and we will not begin our government by taking another loan. We will begin with a commitment to responsible leadership, fiscal discipline and the protection of Nigeria’s future.”
