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General News of Thursday, 14 January 2021

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Bishop Onuoha cautions Nigerian government against borrowing, mortgaging children’s future

Bishop Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha Bishop Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha

The President, Vision Africa International, and the Co-Chair of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP), Bishop Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha, has warned the Buhari-led administration that continuous borrowing could lead to the country mortgaging the future of its children.

He made the statement as the government continues to borrow from international and national organizations. The latest ministry to confirm it will borrow to fund its unconcluded project is the Ministry of Transportation.

Bishop Onuoha, a Global Peace Award Winner in 2013, while giving his advice observed that one of the old habits that the government should shun this year is continuous borrowings from foreign countries, Today.ng reported.

He said the borrowing can be appealing but the bulk of the challenge comes when you have to pay back.

According to him, “One thing about borrowing, is that while doing it, it appears enjoyable, but where the problem sets in is when you don’t have any hope of paying back or when you haven’t invested wisely with the borrowed money, hence problem may ensue at this point.”

The Methodist Bishop enjoined the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government not to mortgage the future of the younger generation who may be left to service these debts due to its gravity, saying that it would be unfair to punish them by constantly borrowing without investing wisely to their advantage, according to Today.ng.

He added, “Borrowing may not be a bad idea if you invest and deploy such loans judiciously, but in the Nigerian context, where there is recession, a lot may not be achieved in terms of payback because those monies go into servicing of old debts without plans to invest.”

Bishop Onuoha advised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to invest in the youth who have the potential to unlock grey areas to the benefit of the entire country, pointing out that investing in them would take care of restiveness and all manner of agitations witnessed in the country in recent times.

He also called for massive investment in agriculture, arguing that before the advent of the oil boom, agriculture was the mainstay, sustaining the country and providing jobs for millions of Nigerians.

He called on the Federal Government to invest more in agriculture now that the price of oil is down globally.