ANEEJ says Nigeria’s debt burden remains a major challenge facing the government

ANEEJ says Nigeria’s debt burden remains a major challenge facing the government

By: Femi Mustapha

A group under the auspices of the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has said that Nigeria’s ballooning debt burden remains one of the major challenges the new government is facing.

The Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor, asserted this during a two-day National Debt Conference with the theme, “Repositioning Nigeria for a debt-free Africa,” organized by the Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to him, the Debt Management Office of Nigeria disclosed recently that Nigeria’s total public debt hit N87.38 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2023.

He explained that the figure represents 75.29 percent compared to N49.85 trillion recorded at the end of March this year, saying this is quite disturbing because most of Nigeria’s revenue is now being channeled to debt servicing obligations at the peril of basic social services in the country.

Rev. Ugolor added that this becomes even more worrisome when viewed against the backdrop that Nigeria remains the world’s poverty capital designated by the World Poverty Clock report of 2023.

The ANEEJ Executive Director stressed that Nigeria’s deepening debt crisis does not occur in isolation, noting that high fiscal deficits in many African countries have made it difficult to build resilience and tackle the multiple shocks (i.e., Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, and insecurity occasioned by terrorism and banditry). As of last year, eight African countries were in debt distress, and thirteen were at high risk of debt distress.

“Against this backdrop, African leaders, who recently gathered at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi from 04-06 September, called for debt relief across the continent to allow countries to get on with responding to the climate and other development crises.

“Also, debt activists from around Africa, Asia, Latin America, and around the world converged on Bogota, the Colombian capital from 20-21 September to review the growing debt crisis in the global south.

“This is premised on the backdrop that the current debt context is dominated by a rising trend in its burden on the economies of southern countries, with an ever-growing list of countries defaulting or facing high debt risks with no concrete possibilities of resolution, in a vicious circle that prioritizes debt servicing over other urgent needs such as social protection, health, education, and climate.

“The asymmetries between North and South, and between creditors and debtors, occur within the framework of a financial architecture that favors the most developed countries and the groups that concentrate the greatest capitalist power in the world.

“The costs of the crisis are unevenly distributed, with the heaviest burden bearing down on the population that is more exposed to economic, social, and climate vulnerabilities.

“That is why the message of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu at the UNGAS is very timely and in the right direction. President Tinubu pointedly said, “Nigeria shouldn’t be pitied; Africa shouldn’t be pitied.

“There should be a level playing ground, there should be some kind of mutually respectful relationship between Nigeria and the rest of the world.”

“This conference is also to take a cursory look at the various debt management options available to Nigeria to bring its debt to sustainable levels and to achieve debt relief.

“Nigeria and other African countries need debt cancellation given that debt remains an instrument for rich developed countries of the North to dominate the countries of the South.

“Furthermore, at the peak of the Covid, Climate, and Economic crisis in 2021, the Board of the International Monetary Fund approved the release of $650bn Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to help boost the liquidity of member countries.

“African countries received US$33.8 bn out of which Nigeria received $3.35bn as its share. There are concerns that the allocation of the 2021 SDR was insufficient to support post-Covid economic recovery, especially for low-income countries like Nigeria.

“The conversation on Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in Africa remains a highly technical subject with little access to information available to policymakers and the public about how they work.

“Also, parliamentary oversight is noted to be weak from studies conducted by ANEEJ in Nigeria and Ghana.

“To enlighten the understanding of development stakeholders on this subject, Various enlightenment activities would be rolled out by ANEEJ in the days and weeks ahead. AFRODAD on its part has been conducting a series of webinars on SDRs across the continent.

“This conference will review the utilization of SDRs in Nigeria and the current debates around SDR reallocation to countries in most need such as Nigeria without exacerbating the debt crisis,” he said.