“Every sovereign nation borrows,” Presidency blasts Peter Obi over ‘cancer’ remark on Tinubu’s viral borrowing defence

The Presidency on Thursday issued a strong rebuttal to former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, over his criticism of Nigeria’s borrowing practices, dismissing his comments as misleading and lacking economic depth.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, accused Obi of engaging in “demagoguery” and emotional rhetoric, insisting that borrowing under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is intentional, strategic, and focused on infrastructure development.

“Every sovereign nation borrows, and as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rightly said, borrowing is not leprosy,” Onanuga said in a post on his X handle.

He argued that Obi’s description of borrowing as a “killer cancer” reflected a misunderstanding of public finance, stressing that access to credit markets demonstrates economic credibility rather than weakness.

Onanuga maintained that the Tinubu administration has been careful in directing borrowed funds towards key sectors aimed at driving growth, creating jobs, and expanding productive capacity, rather than financing consumption.

He also urged Obi to shift from what he described as alarmist narratives to more evidence-based economic discussions.

The response followed Obi’s earlier warning that Nigeria’s rising debt could become a “killer cancer” if not invested in productive areas.

Obi had argued that borrowing for consumption undermines national stability and weakens a country’s fiscal health and independence.

“Borrowing for consumption slowly eats away at the health, reputation and autonomy of a nation,” he said, adding that Nigeria’s challenge lies in “debt without productivity.”

He also called for strict compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, which requires proper justification and cost-benefit analysis for all borrowing.

Obi further noted that Nigeria’s debt burden should be assessed more by its debt servicing capacity than by its debt-to-GDP ratio.

“What matters is not debt-to-GDP as much as debt-to-debt servicing ratio, because the latter constrains our capacity to finance sectors that drive human development and economic growth,” he said.

However, the Presidency maintained that Obi’s position ignores the wider economic realities and development needs of the country, insisting that the current borrowing framework is aimed at long-term infrastructure renewal and economic expansion.