By Adeola Badru

IBADAN-AGAINST further plunging the country into further debt, an international investment and business consultant, Dr Vincent Nwani on has warned the Federal Government against adding more debt to the current N24.3trillion foreign debt, urging the president to take proactive measures to reduce the current debt profile.

From left: Bureau Chief, South-west, Guardian Newspaper, Mr. Muyiwa Adeyemi; Group Head, Corporate Affairs, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mr. Diran Olojo; Bureau Chief, Ibadan, AIT, Mr. Femi Amusan; Guest Speaker, Dr. Vincent Nwani; Regional Head, South-west, FCMB, Mr. Adelaja Adeleye; Bureau Chief, South-west, The Nation Newspaper, Mr. Bisi Oladele and South-west Zonal Secretary, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mr. Bamigbola Gbolagunte, during a Media Parley and capacity building programme by the Bank for Journalists in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The economic guru who spoke at the FCMB southwest region media parley tagged; ‘Nigeria in 2019: Low Growth versus Risking Risks’ said the national GDP which is at 2.5 at the moment is too weak for the development of the country.

He, however, averred that as an expert, he knew borrowing for developmental projects is never a crime but, not feeling the effect of the borrowing on the masses is the concern of the economic experts in the country.

According to him, Nigerian is feeling the effect of the world currency crashes and the global trade growth which is 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 facing the country, poor policies of the government, and poor tax collection in Nigeria.

He said: “in 2015, our external debt was N12. 1 trillion but before the end of 2018, it rose to N24.3 trillion. Though I know it is never a crime to borrow money, but you must know what you are doing with the money you are borrowing.”

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“Today, no concrete project is going on in the country and we keep borrowing money. Today, our GDP is 2.5 which was above 6.0 a few years ago. This is very weak for a country like Nigeria.”

“You media practitioners need to challenge the government on the new policy on loan for the importation of food, especially milk. If you raise money to import without going through the CBN, when you get to the port of entry, you will have problems.”

On the closure of Nigeria’s borders, he said the United State of America, despite the security challenge it is facing never closed its borders, urging the Nigerian government to take action without any further delay.

Earlier, the Group Head, South-west, FCMB, Mr Diran Olojo had said the workshop was organized by the FCMB as part of its social corporate responsibility for southwest media practitioners for effective business reportage.

Vanguard