Obasanjo warns “your entire generation will pay” as Nigeria’s debt rises

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo warned that Nigeria’s $147 billion debt will burden present and future generations.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that Nigeria’s rising debt will be paid by the present generation, their children and grandchildren unless urgent steps are taken, Daily Post reports. Speaking on Monday at the 7.0 Presidential Youth Mentorship Retreat in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Obasanjo said the debt had grown from $36 billion during his administration to $147 billion. He said debt servicing, about $3.6bn annually then, could now reach $15 billion, leaving fewer resources for development.

He questioned how successive administrations spent borrowed funds, asking, “What have we spent the money that we borrowed on? Where is the spending?” Obasanjo recalled that Nigeria’s debt fell below $4bn after debt relief secured under his administration, which left over $65 billion in foreign reserves and $25 billion in the Excess Crude Account. “Debt is more than leprosy. Leprosy destroys one person; debt destroys generations,” he said. “You will pay, your children will pay, your generation will pay and that’s what it is.”