The founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) has urged President Bola Tinubu to seek debt relief from international creditors.
Babalola made this call during the 6th Induction Ceremony of 2023 graduating set of College of Medical and Health Sciences, ABUAD, by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday.
He said, “Nigeria is one of the heaviest debtors in the world, I have written articles about it, let us investigate how we came to several trillions of dollars, what do we spend it on? I can assure you, these money are pocketed by those who said they collected it.
“Let us call on Obasanjo again to advise the present government. When we were in serious trouble in the 90s, after he took over, he went round all the creditors and begged them, one, to peg the interest, two, to even reduce the indebtedness and today, we are better for it.
“Unless we do that, this indebtedness will cripple this country and it will lead to anything. I have seen people especially, in the North who are agitating because of the fact that the naira is getting worse, food prices are high, no employment, and those who get it are not paid. Something has to be done about it.”
Babalola, however, condemned the recent killings of two traditional rulers in Ekiti state and hike in food prices, attributing the phenomena to the ‘worthless’ value of naira currency which has propelled an average Nigerian to succumb to heinous acts and other criminalities in order to make ends meet.
He urged the federal government to intensify efforts at tackling insecurity so that farmers can access their farms without fear and enable all Nigerians to be producers of crops by investing in Agriculture.
