The Senator-elect representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim, has explained how Nigeria can pay back its debts within 90 days.
The business mogul said the country’s debts of N77tn shouldn’t be a cause for worry considering the current debt to GDP ratio of less than 31 percent.
Jimoh Ibrahim gave the insight in an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.
He said, “I can give you a strategy that will help pay back all of Nigeria’s debt in 90 days. Our current debt shouldn’t be a big problem or source of worry for President Bola Tinubu. What is the debt ratio to the GDP of a country? Nigeria’s is currently around 31 per cent, which means we have a window of about 70 per cent to borrow more money.
Nigeria is wasting its time not borrowing more money. Dubai is owning $167bn and has a population of 12 million and 3 million indigenous people and they borrowed $167bn. They developed a plan to boost their infrastructure facilities and today everything is fine in Dubai whilst paying their debts back with ease.”
Speaking further, the billionaire businessman said, “What you need to do is call together about five EXIM banks including China’s, and take a loan of about five times what we are owing currently. Do a bridge gap financing and then pay off what you owe and have a surplus. Prepare a re-payment program for 40 years and then have an honorarium period of 10 years and you are out of the debt. With these, you can negotiate with the creditor for a 30 percent discount.
“Within that period, put your house in order and then you have money to develop your economy. How much can we make from oil revenue, get an action plan on how to diversify the economy and within ten years we could have a holistic well-defined road map financially.”
On Boko Haram, he said: “Boko Haram is a political problem. You have to socialise politically to solve Boko haram. The first thing Mr President has to do is to withdraw soldiers from the front(line) and return them back to the barracks.
“Children that left NDA as a lieutenant, they have become major-general and the war is still there. Is the military a challenge to ourselves? No”.
According to Jimoh Ibrahim, Nigeria has spent a whopping $1.2 trillion fighting insurgency within the last 10 years.
Speaking on the way forward, he said: “go into political socialization. You have to socialise domestically. Assuming you have spent 10 per cent of $1.2 trillion on political socialisation, Boko Haram would have disappeared.
“But you spent 89 per cent on a factor that is not significant to confront Boko Haram, Boko Haram will still be there.”
