President Bola Tinubu stated that servicing Nigeria’s external debt with 90% of the country’s earnings is unsustainable.
Tinubu made the remark while opening the annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Sunday in Abuja.
The president criticized the high debt service-to-revenue ratio as “a path to destruction” during his speech at the conference.
He remarked that the prosperity that Nigerians seek can only come after the community is free of poverty — with the help of the country’s business leaders.
“Can we continue to service external debts with 90% of our revenue? It is a path to destruction. It is not sustainable,” Ajuri Ngelale, the president’s media adviser, quoted Tinubu as saying in a statement.
“We must make the very difficult changes that are necessary for our country to get up from slumber and be respected among the great nations of the world.
“We cannot have the country we desire without the reforms we have initiated. It is painful at the beginning, in the short and medium term, but we must do what we have to do to take this nation to its great destiny.
“It is not about you and it is not about me. It is about our generations yet unborn, for whom we must bequeath a great and prosperous country.”
Tinubu has expressed his commitment to addressing the issue of salary for judicial officers and legal practitioners, adding that “true justice reform must begin with world-class salaries and benefits for legal professionals in Nigeria.”
He claims that Nigerians whine a lot about the past instead of altering their mentality and working hard.
“You are learned. I want to learn. Why are we so blessed and we are still lacking? We must have a change of attitude and a change of our mindset. We accuse our nation and its previous leaders.
“We complain a lot of the past. Is that the solution? No! Let us look forward and be determined!” Tinubu said.
