Obasanjo Raises Concerns Over Nigeria’s Growing Debt Despite Previous Surplus.
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed deep concern over the country’s current debt levels, highlighting the significant financial resources he left in office in 2007, now apparently depleted.
In an exclusive interview with News Central Television’s Kayode Akintemi, Obasanjo revealed that he left Nigeria with nearly $70 billion in reserves, comprising a $45 billion national reserve and $25 billion in a designated “excess crude” account. Reflecting on his administration, he explained that his government had inherited a debt of almost $36 billion in 1999, which they successfully reduced to between $3.5 billion and $3.6 billion through strategic debt relief initiatives.
“I came in 1999 and met $3.7 billion in the reserve. And we were spending $3.5 billion to service the debts. By the time we left eight years later, with debt relief, we had reduced the debt from around $36 billion to about $3.5 billion,” Obasanjo said.
He also noted that while the reserve grew to $45 billion under his leadership, an additional $25 billion was placed in an “excess crude” account, a fund meant for revenues exceeding budgeted oil prices. Together, these assets provided Nigeria with a total of roughly $70 billion.
However, Obasanjo lamented that despite this financial cushion, and the revenue generated since 2007, the reserves have reportedly been exhausted, with the country now grappling with a debt burden greater than in 1999.
“Today, between 2007 and 2024, all that amount of money has gone; all of it. Not only that, but all the money made during that period has gone. And today, we owe more than we owed when we came to government in 1999,” he added, calling attention to the pressing need for quality leadership and fiscal responsibility in Nigeria.
