Reps fault DMO claims on Nigeria’s rising domestic debt profile of N3.3trn
House of Representatives has faulted the Debt Management Office (DMO) over its claims that the country’s rising domestic profile is a collective responsibility, and for the legislature to instead ‘look at borrowing by the government from a macro-economic perspective.’
The lawmakers made their position known when the Director General of the DMO, Mrs Patience Oniha, appeared before the House Committee on Aid, Loans and Debt Management to defend her agency’s 2023 budget in Abuja.
Addressing the lawmakers, Oniha justified the country’s domestic debt profile of Nigeria which stands at N3.685 trillion for 2023, as she explained to the House Committee members that the figure increased from N3.2 trillion in 2022 due to high interest rate on the borrowed funds from domestic and international sources.
However, Chairman of the committee, Mr Ahmed Safana, in his response, expressed concern at the huge increase by over N1 trillion of the domestic debt profile, as he further noted that this increase was recorded in just one year alone.
Safana called on the DMO as a relevant agency to halt the frequency of borrowings by government.
Also, another member of the committee, Mr Emeka Azubogu, argued that borrowings by government at any level must be tied to specific projects and demanded details of the N3.55 trillion earmarked for borrowing in the 2023 budget.
The committee members also directed the DMO to submit to the panel, all the details of assets sold, payment made and outstanding debts owed to the agency under privatisation.
