The current debt profile of Nigeria has risen to
N19trn as the Federal Government says there is no
going back on plans to borrow additional N2trn.
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator
Udoma Udo Udoma, said yesterday that the
government is desperate to borrow the sum of N2
trillion to finance the 2017 Budget.
The minister, who spoke to newsmen after he pre­
sented his reports on the current Federal Govern­
ment’s economic recovery plans to the National
Working Committee of the All Progressives Con­
gress (APC) at the party’s headquarters in Abuja on
Wednesday night, argued that the government was
not committing any economic blunder by borrow­
ing to finance the budget.
Udoma noted that there was a great wisdom be­
hind funding the budget with the proposed bor­
rowing plan, adding that Nigeria does not have
debt problem, but revenue problems.
He also said that efforts are in top gear to increase
the country’s internally generated revenue through
the recent moves to implement the laws of
taxation, adding that the nation’s debt profile is not
threatening, as it is less than 20% of the Gross Do­
mestic Product (GDP).
“Every country borrows and the level of borrowing
in Nigeria is not excessive at all. The Federal Gov­
ernment is going to borrow about N2 trillion to
finance the 2017 budget.
“Our debt currently is about N19 trillion which is
less than 20 per cent of our Gross Domestic
Product (GDP). It is quite moderate. So, we don’t
have a debt problem, what we have is a revenue
problem and that is why we are taking steps to
increase our revenue”, he said.
On how the government intends to increase its
revenue earnings, Sen Udoma said: “One of the
things we are doing, as you are aware, is to get
people who have not been paying their taxes to pay
their taxes. Right now, our tax collection from GDP
is only about six per cent of GDP.


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