The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has slammed ARISE Television anchor, Rufai Oseni, over an attack on the current administration.
Naijaonpoint reports that Oseni had shared an article accusing President Tinubu of being the mastermind of Nigeria’s rising debt profile.
Reacting to ..., Onanuga described Rufai as an economic illiterate, stressing that all nations borrow money and that Tinubu’s government borrowing has not breached the limit.
He wrote, “You are an economic illiterate! All sovereign nations borrow money.Our borrowing has not breached the limit by the rule.”
Responding to Onanuga, Rufai wrote, “Dear Egbon Bayo, you don’t need to abuse me and call me economic illiterate because I stated Nigerias debt! Challenge me with facts.
“Love and respect despite your abuses. you don’t need to abuse me. We all respect you as our Baba B. You can make your point without abuses. Why call me an economic illiterate because I stated facts!
“Kindly provide a contrary fact that Nigeria is not owing 152 trillion.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) recently defended the Federal Government’s borrowing strategy, insisting that debt is a legitimate and sustainable part of every national budget.
The FIRS Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, while addressing journalists during the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Adedeji dismissed criticisms of the government’s debt profile, stressing that no nation in the world funds its budget solely on revenue.
“Borrowing is not a problem. It is part of every viable nation’s ecosystem. No country in the world survives entirely on its own revenue.
“When the government borrows from banks, it pays interest; banks pay salaries from that, and taxes are collected from their profits. It is a cycle that sustains continuity,” he explained.
The tax chief added that every budget is made up of three core components, expenditure, revenue, and loans, and that as long as government borrowing stays within what is approved by the National Assembly, there should be no controversy.
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