By Calista Oyeoba/ Posted January 6, 2025
To a cursory view, Nigeria’s relationship with the World Bank is a complex one. With the country’s debt profiling becoming an addiction, many experts have raised concerns about the long-term impact on the country’s development being a major concern.
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For instance, the Q2 of 2024, showed that Nigeria’s public debt was N134.3 trillion ($91.35 billion), which is in real terms is about 10.38% increase from the previous quarter. This debt is made up of domestic and external debt.
According to Dele Sobowale, a renowned journalist and public affairs analyst, he said, “Debt is the opium of the governing class.” This statement highlights the tendency of Nigeria’s governing class to rely heavily on borrowing instead of cutting edge internal revenue generation, which can have severe consequences for the country’s economy, downline.
Professor Ode Ojowu, a former Chief Economic Adviser to ex-President Obasanjo, revealed that World Bank Country Managers are more like economic salesmen, with loan targets to achieve. This dependency approach can lead to reckless lending, ignoring consequences for the country.
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Nigeria’s debt problem is further complicated by the fact that the World Bank’s reports often fail to predict critical economic variables, revenue shortfalls, exchange rate and inflation.
This obvious lack of accurate economic data can lead to poorly informed decision making. Thus, in order to address this issue, Nigeria must adopt a more sustainable approach to borrowing and prudent economic management that prioritizes investment in viable projects, which will promote more transparency and accountability, thereby reducing reliance on debts.
The basic summary, is that, It is important for Nigeria to understand the long-term dangers of high debt profile and take proactive measures to break free from the cycle of borrowing and reckless spending.
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NOTE: The opinion expressed by columnists/contributors do NOT reflect the viewpoint of DDNEWSONLINE.COM.
The story was researched and written by Calista Oyeoba.
Calista is on Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) at DDNEWSONLINE.COM from the Department of Mass Communication, Ekocity Polytechnic, Lagos