By Hassan Zaggi
The Federal Government has been advised to stop further borrowing from both local and international sources so as not to mortgage the future generation of Nigerians.
The President, Vision Africa International and the Co-Chair of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP), Bishop Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha, who gave the advice recently, said that too much borrowing will put future generations of Nigerians under intense pressure as they would have to devout a considerable chunk of the country’s resources in servicing debt.
Bishop Onuoha, who is the Global Peace Award Winner in 2013, said one of the old habits that the government should shun in 2021 is continuous borrowings from foreign countries.
“One thing about borrowing, is that while doing it, it appears enjoyable, but where the problem sets in is when you don’t have any hope of paying back or when you haven’t invested wisely with the borrowed money, hence problem may ensue at this point.”
“Borrowing may not be a bad idea if you invest and deploy such loans judiciously, but in the Nigerian context, where there is recession, a lot may not be achieved in terms of pay back because those monies go into servicing of old debts without plans to invest”, he said.
The Bishop urged the Federal Government not to mortgage the future of the younger generation who may be left to service these debts due to its gravity, stressing that it will be unfair to punish them by constantly borrowing without investing wisely to their advantage.
He called the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to invest in the youth who have potential to unlock grey areas to the benefit of the entire country, noting that investing in them will take care of restiveness and all manners of agitations that witnessed in the country in recent times.
Bishop Onuoha also called for massive investment in agriculture, arguing that before the advent of the oil boom, agriculture was the mainstay, sustaining the country and providing jobs for millions of Nigerians.
