‘Debt worse than leprosy’ – Obasanjo tackles Tinubu

By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s defence of government borrowing, declaring that debt is worse than leprosy because of its devastating consequences for present and future generations. Obasanjo also warned Nigeria and other African countries against allowing foreign interests to dominate artificial intelligence, AI, saying the emerging technology could become another instrument of exploitation and digital colonialism if the continent failed to develop its own technological capacity. The former president spoke on Friday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, at the Ajibosin Platform, a public forum themed, “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Solve Grassroots Problems and Accelerate National Development”.

Reacting to Tinubu’s earlier assertion that borrowing was not leprosy, Obasanjo argued that the accumulation of public debt could mortgage the country’s future and impose an unbearable burden on generations yet unborn. “And for anybody to say debt is no leprosy, is absolute nonsense. Debt is worse than leprosy because leprosy destroys only one person. Debt destroys generations,” he declared. Tinubu had defended his administration’s borrowing policy in April, insisting that borrowing was not inherently wrong if the country had the capacity to repay. “If we have to borrow, we borrow. Borrowing is not leprosy; we just have to work hard to be able to pay for it,” the President had said during a meeting with Plateau State leaders, led by Governor Caleb Mutfwang and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, at the State House. The President’s position came amid concerns over Nigeria’s rising debt profile and the increasing proportion of government revenue committed to debt…