Obasanjo Challenges Tinubu’s Case for More Borrowing

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has sharply rejected President Bola Tinubu’s argument that borrowing should not be viewed negatively, saying Nigeria’s debt burden risks imposing consequences on generations yet unborn. He made the remarks on Friday at the third Ajibosin Annual Symposium in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Tinubu was recently quoted as saying that borrowing was “not leprosy” and that the government’s responsibility was to work hard enough to repay what it borrowed.

Obasanjo dismissed that reasoning as “absolute nonsense”, arguing that the effects of excessive debt extend far beyond the individual or administration that contracts it. “Leprosy destroys only one person. Debt destroys generations,” Obasanjo said, according to Punch Nigeria.

His intervention comes as Tinubu’s administration seeks legislative approval for additional foreign borrowing, including $20.5 billion and €1.45 billion, a request that has also drawn questions from the Nigeria Labour Congress. Tinubu defended the proposed loans in a statement issued on Thursday, saying the central issue was not the amount borrowed but the infrastructure and economic value created with the money. He said the funds would support roads, electricity, ports, healthcare, education and vocational training as Nigeria pursues an ambition to become a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

The president identified the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, the Trans-Sahara Superhighway, electricity-grid improvements and upgrades to commercial ports in Lagos among the planned projects. He projected that the coastal highway could reduce transport costs along its route by 15 to 20 per cent, add as much as two percentage points to gross domestic product and generate hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Obasanjo, who secured a landmark $30 billion Paris Club debt relief for Nigeria while president from 1999 to 2007, questioned the country’s economic management and the long-term capacity of its leaders to handle increasing liabilities.

He also pointed to the naira’s decline, recalling that when he started his farm 47 years ago, the currency traded at roughly one naira to the dollar and 85 cents. He contrasted that with an exchange rate of about 1,500 naira to the dollar cited in his remarks. He also criticised the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, saying their policies were not designed around Nigeria’s development and prosperity.

Obasanjo argued that African countries often adopt externally developed economic prescriptions without adapting them to local needs, including in agriculture. The symposium’s focus was artificial intelligence and grassroots development. Obasanjo warned that technology introduced by powerful foreign interests could be abused if Nigeria did not control its applications and safeguards.

Historian and public policy scholar Umar Ardo similarly said Africa needed ownership of its data, digital infrastructure, intellectual property, chip fabrication and data centres to prevent AI from deepening economic dependence.