Oye Challenges FG to Cut Borrowing, Emulate Anambra’s Zero-Borrowing Policy
Dele Oye urges fiscal discipline, stronger revenue mobilisation and tighter borrowing limits as Nigeria’s debt burden continues rising.
Chairman, Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics (AERE), Hon. Dele Oye, Tuesday urged the federal government to adopt a more disciplined fiscal management strategy modelled after Anambra State’s zero-borrowing policy.
Oye warned that the country’s mounting debt profile was becoming a major threat to sustainable economic development.
In a policy statement titled, “A Tale of Two Ledgers: Anambra’s Zero-Borrowing Masterclass vs. Nigeria’s Debt Spiral,” Oye contrasted Anambra’s conservative fiscal approach under Governor Chukwuma Soludo with what he described as the federal government’s growing dependence on debt financing.
According to him, the contrast presents two sharply different models of public finance—one anchored on revenue generation and prudent expenditure, and the other driven by persistent borrowing to fund government operations.
Separately, Oye unveiled an eight-point policy framework aimed at transforming economic reforms into broad-based prosperity, adding that the country’s current growth trajectory will remain unsustainable unless it directly improves the lives of ordinary citizens.
He stated that rising government revenues and improving macroeconomic indicators would amount to little if households, farmers, and productive businesses continued to grapple with soaring prices, expensive credit, insecurity, and rising production costs.