The Peoples Democratic Party's candidate for president, Atiku Abubakar, has declared that he will ask for debt cancellation or forgiveness in order to lower Nigeria's foreign debt.
At the Lagos Business School 2022 Alumni Day, the former vice president talked about his economic recovery strategy and claimed that his privatisation strategy wasn't meant to create joblessness in Nigeria.
When discussing the numerous economic issues Nigeria is currently experiencing, Atiku provided a brief overview of the PDP's economic accomplishments between 1999 and 2007, which included debt cancellation, privatization, banking reforms, and an effective working relationship with the private sector.
At the gathering attended by business executives, he addressed economic issues, fuel subsidies, foreign exchange policy, the debt crisis, and power, as well as topics about the oil and gas industry.
In addition, he utilized the podium to praise the private sector for the successes made by the PDP between 1999 and 2007.
Regarding the rising cost of governance, the former vice president said he would review the Orosanye report and ensure that the white paper report adhered to the committee-setting premise.
Regarding fuel subsidy, Atiku stated that the PDP government had eliminated the subsidy in phases, saying, “I was the chairman for the removal of fuel subsidy committee, and I recall how we removed the phase 1 and phase 2 of fuel subsidy. I will continue from where we stopped, remove the fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds back into the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud.”
He characterized Nigeria’s debt position as a disaster and pledged to fix it if elected president.
He stated, “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 stabilize the economy, we will borrow less and propose a flexible payment plan.
“Again, I want you to compare our records with the current government, and you can see who did well economically.”
The ex-vice president declared that he would restructure the oil and gas sector by ensuring that his government engaged the proper investors to improve Nigeria’s crude production and privatizing the country’s three refineries.
According to him, such policies would eventually transform Nigeria into a center for oil production.
He also committed to securing adequate public education funding, stressing that disadvantaged children should receive free education.
He also pledged to refocus the 1999-established Universal Basic Education program on its primary objective, reducing the number of out-of-school children in the country.
When asked to comment on the autonomy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the PDP nominee stated that the current administrators of the apex bank are taking their cues from the current administration, “which lacks direction,” according to him.