Prince Adewole Adebayo, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has said that he will wipe out the N77 trillion debt Nigeria is presently owing within three budget cycles.
According to him, he’s not afraid of inheriting the N77 trillion debt which would be left by the present government.
Adebayo stated this in an exclusive online interview with Tribune, telling Nigerians not to be worried about the evidence of failure by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration that hired an unimaginative team to head the Central Bank of Nigeria and create debts instead of managing the economy.
He said he does not see liability in Nigeria as he prepares to activate the various assets of the nation to turn around the grim situation to one of international envy.
Adebayo told Tribune Online that he decided to contest for the presidency of Nigeria because of the myriad of challenges facing Nigeria, which in his view, are no challenge at all given the huge assets which abound in the country.
In his words; “I knew these problems before I declared to run. In fact if these problems were not there, I would not have taken interest to run.
“When you have a debt profile that is put at N77 trillion, you are looking at the death side, what about the asset side?
“When I take my oath of office I am not just inheriting the debt, I am inheriting 220 million people, I am inheriting entrepreneurs.
“Nigerians are so lively highly energetic and already to work. I am inheriting the largest gas reserve. I am inheriting a vast agricultural land.
“I mean everything, all other things, solid minerals and all other assets. so the debt is so small when compared to the assets that we have. So, what I will do is, looking at structure of our debt.
“If I push our revenue up by 32 % we will be fine but the window of pushing our revenue up is about 300 percents. And if I push down the wastage and the corruption by three quarters 75% with some saving pockets here and there. And do some mop up. I think that Nigerians would not even remember that we have debt profile at all.
“We will retire the debts within three budget, the debt will be insignificant and the people will get employment, if I get 30 million jobs added to the workforce. The taxation on pay as you earn alone, will wipe this debt off.
“If I get agriculture productivity in four belts in the country, lower Kebbi upper Niger, in southern Kaduna plateau, axis, if I get agriculture in Oke Ogun. Part of south west Nigeria and do Agriculture in Benue that will significantly deal with the problem.
“I don’t worry about that. It is not the load that kills but how you carry it, so, these debts represent a deficits of imagination. A deficit of creativity, a deficit of competence. Why I said so is not because I am in the mood to insult anybody.
“I said so because their original sin is not managing our revenue accruers very well because they didn’t mandate revenue accruers due to three problems that they have created for them selves include the fact that they don’t have the competence to do an appraisal of revenue profile and capture all the revenue subheads and govern all the revenue sub-head prudently.
“Secondly, they are tardy in administration and supervision as the result? So many leakages even within the one they captured.
“Thirdly, they have collected campaign funding and other support from those who are benefiting from leakages and blind spots?
“So in other to keep their friends happy with them the their political structures, they have created no-go areas, as a result of that, they are not able to capture enough revenue.
“Because they have hired an unpatriotic and unimaginative Governor of central bank. So they’re able to create debts, like a drunken sailor and turned he central bank to a casino that is why they have all these crises.“
