26 days to go: Outrage as Senate approves Buhari’s N22.7tn extra-budgetary spending
Written by Olarotimi Oshin on May 4, 2023
Prominent economists, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association and opposition parties took a swipe at the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, (retd.), and the Senate over the government’s N22.7tn extra-budgetary spending approved by the upper legislative chamber on Wednesday.
While groups including NECA and the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry questioned the rationale for the loan by a regime that was approaching its exit, economists, in separate interviews with The PUNCH, described the approval by the Senate as unusual.
With the approval by the Senate of the N22.7tn loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria extended to the Federal Government under its Ways and Means provision, Nigeria’s external debt will rise to N68.95tn.
The Debt Management Office recently revealed that Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased to N46.25tn in the fourth quarter of 2022.
