Shehu Sani: Buhari would have protested if Jonathan had piled up debts like him

Shehu Sani, a former senator representing Kaduna central, says President Muhammadu Buhari would have protested if former President Goodluck Jonathan had piled up debts like his administration.

Sani spoke on Saturday during Daily Trust’s Twitter Spaces titled ‘Insecurity and 2023 General Elections’.

Recently, many Nigerians have raised concerns over the increase in the country’s debt profile owing to the borrowings of the Buhari-led federal government.

TheCable, in a report published in July 2021, noted that Buhari is the country’s biggest borrower among Nigeria’s presidents since 1999, increasing public debt (FG component) by more than 173 percent.

In response to the debt concerns, the federal government had said the administration is borrowing “sensibly” to meet the country’s infrastructure needs.

Speaking on the situation, the former senator said the current administration borrows for virtually everything.

“On economy, never at a time in the history of Nigeria, have we piled up so much debt. Borrowing from Islamic bank, IMF, World Bank, Brazil, European Union and China has almost become a routine,” the former senator said.

“This national assembly alone within two years approved $35 billion loans, and in 2020 and 2021, CBN used the opportunity of COVID-19 to secure over $6 billion in the name of fighting COVID-19 in Nigeria from the IMF.

“So you ask yourself, if Buhari was in the opposition and Jonathan was the one who piled up these debts, he could have been on the streets protesting about the debt.”