NIGERIAN DEBT BURDEN AND THE BOGEY OF DEBT SERVING
Ayodele Thomas. D
Department of Accounting and Finance
Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo
ABSTRACT
It has been generally agreed upon that the rationale for raising both external and internal loan by governments of developing countries has always been to bridge the domestic resources gap in order to accelerate economic development. This has led many African countries including Nigeria to resort to borrowing since early 1970s. Unfortunately, the loans borrowed by Nigeria government over the years have not been put into any productive use to assist the nation and the teaming populace. More and more, the few political class members are getting richer daily at the expense of the teaming populace of the country. The paper therefore discussed the issue of debt burden and the debt servicing problems and the impact of debt burden on the Nigerian economy. Despite the fact that the country has been relieved of a very high proportion of the burden since 2006, the economy has not improved positively due to many human problems confronting the country which range from high profile corruption in the country’s political class, exorbitant allowances for political posts holders, dependency on only one product (oil), excessive importation of foreign items, insecurity which has affected foreign investment in the country negatively. It was therefore recommended among others that Nigerian government should adopt clear, and strict criteria for contracting new debt, diversify the economy and block all loop holes through which the Nations revenue is been drained.