The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has promised to engage creditors to solicit cancellation or forgiveness to tackle Nigeria’s foreign debt profile.
He stated this on Tuesday at the Lagos Business School 2022 alumni day, while outlining his plans for economic recovery if given the opportunity to govern the country.
Abubakar labeled the controversial petrol subsidy as fraud and promised to scrap it once elected.
The PDP presidential candidate listed some of the positive impacts of his party between 199 to 20007 to include debt cancellation, privatisation, banking reforms, and an effective working partnership with the private sector.
He said, “I was the chairman for the removal of the fuel subsidy committee and I recall how we removed phase 1 and phase 2 of the fuel subsidy. I will continue from where we stopped, remove fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds back into the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud,” he said.
“If you are talking about foreign debt, we have done it before, I will engage our creditors and ask for debt forgiveness or cancellation like we did before. Coming to local debt, if we stabilise the economy, we will borrow less, and propose a flexible payment plan.
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“Again, I want you to compare our records with the current government and you can see who did well economically.”
Abubakar also said he would reform the oil and gas sector by ensuring that the right investors are engaged, such that Nigeria’s crude production increases while ensuring the privatisation of the three refineries in the country.
The former vice-president said, “with such policies in place, it will ultimately make Nigeria an oil production hub.”
He also promised to properly fund public education, noting that the children of the poor should enjoy free education.
Meanwhile, the federal government proposes to spend N6.7 trillion on petrol subsidy payments in 2023.
Source: Cable