How Buhari Responded When Asked About His High Borrowing And Inflation Rate In The Country
Following the exclusive interview granted by the Presidency to some correspondents from Channels TV, President Muhammadu Buhari has been in the news over the way he responded when queried about his administration’s resolve to heavy borrowing, and the current high rate of inflation.
According to data provided by the ChannelsTV correspondents, Nigeria’s total debt was about N12 trillion in 2015, but has been increased to about N32 trillion by Buhari’s administration. Inflation rate which was about 9% then has now increased to just about 15%. Unemployment rate of about 8.9% in 2015 has increased drastically to about 33%, while the Naira to dollar rate has increased from N197/$1 to way over N400/$1.
When queried about all these, the President, rather surprisingly, replied that he wasn’t sure how correct the figures listed by the correspondents were, but that his administration “would have to allow people to get access to the farms because we just have to go back to the land.”
Video of the President’s reply:
Farming is important, but other economic factors have to be checked and balanced too.
The President’s strong resolve to farming has been the highlight of his administration so far. While his farming initiative is commendable, other factors of the economy have to be checked and balanced too. The naira to dollar exchange rate, for example, has been on a steady rise since 2015. If this isn’t checked, the inflation rate and prices of foodstuff in the market would continue to go up even if we are the ones producing the food items ourselves.
Photo Credit: Vanguard.
Also, the worrying unemployment rate and the increased borrowing by the Buhari-administration has been a source of concern for economic analysts, as our present revenue generation system may not be able to service these debts, not to talk of repaying them. The President’s focus on Agriculture is good, but we have to fix other aspects of the economy first before we can be able to go to the farm.
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