20th May, 2015
Nigeria’s Vice President-elect, Prof. Yomi Osinbajo, has painted a dispiriting picture of the national economy, by releasing mind-boggling statistics and making a verdict: Nigeria’s economy is in its worst shape in history.
According to the cerebral Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Nigeria’s total debt, local and international stands at US$60billion.
*Debt service stands at N953.6billion, representing 21 per cent of the 2015 budget.
*Nigeria borrows to fund recurrent expenditure
*110 million of our 170 million people live in extreme poverty.
*A few Nigerians have cornered Nigerian resources.
*Two-thirds of Nigerian states can’t pay salaries as oil revenue dwindles
*Federal Government not better off as it borrows to fund recurrent expenses
Osinbajo gave these statistics in his remarks at the opening of a 2-day Policy Dialogue on the Implementation of the Agenda for Change, which began in Abuja on Wednesday.
Osinbajo said the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress offers a vision of shared prosperity and socio-economic inclusion for all Nigerians that leaves no one behind in the pursuit of a prosperous and fulfilling life.
According to him, the goal of the policy dialogue is to interrogate the positions and propositions before a wider audience and to lunch a robust public conversation on policy directions and priorities that will help inform the incoming administration’s approach in the next four years.