Ibadan — An international investment and business consultant, Opeyemi Agbaje, has warned the Federal Government against adding more debts to the current N24.3 trillion foreign debt and urged it to take urgent action to reduce the debt.
Agbaje said as an expert, he knew borrowing for developmental projects was never a crime, but that the masses not feeling the effect positively was the concern of economic experts in the country.
The economic guru who was represented by Dr. Vincent Nwani at the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) South West parley tagged: "Nigeria in 2019: Low Growth Versus Risking Risks", in Ibadan, said Nigeria's GDP, which is 2.0 per cent at the moment, was too weak for development of the country.
He said Nigeria was feeling the effect of the world currency crashes and the global trade growth which was pending at 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year.
He blamed sleepy economic performance of the country on the challenges of insecurity, poor policies of government and poor tax collection.
He said, "In 2015, our external debt was N12. 1tn, but before the end of 2018, it rose to N24.3tn. Although I know it is never a crime to borrow money, but you must know what you are doing with the money you are borrowing.
"Today, no concrete project is going on in the country and we keep borrowing money. Today, our GDP is 2.0; which was above 6.0 few years ago. This is very weak for a country like Nigeria.
"You media practitioners need to challenge government on the new policy on loan for importation of food, especially milk. If you raise money to import without going through the CBN, when you get to port of entry, you will have problems."
Earlier, the Group Head (South West) of FCMB, Mr. Diran Olojo, said the workshop was organised by FCMB as part of its social corporate responsibility for the South West media practitioners for effective business reportage.
Similarly, a Delta billionaire, Prince Ned Munir Nwoko, warned the Nigerian government against improper utilisation of foreign loans.
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