PUBLIC DEBT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA, 2015-2022

Abstract

The study interrogated the interface between public debt and economic development in Nigeria between 2015 and 2022. The objective was to find out if public debt negatively affects overall economic development in Nigeria. Public debt involves loans incurred by the government to finance its activities, while economic development implies improvement in the standard of living of the entire population of a given country. the paper relied on documentary and survey methods for data collection. The documentary was anchored on textbooks, well research journal articles National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), official documents, DMO official documents, Newspaper, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) documents, other documents from the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) and internet materials. For the survey method, we used in-depth interviews where in-depth interviews were conducted for 6 respondents randomly selected from BOF, DMO, and NBS in Abuja, 6 members of the academia from the North Central geopolitical zone-Abuja and Nasarawa, a total of 12 persons were interviewed. The interviewees were randomly selected. Our theoretical framework was anchored on the dependency theory. The findings showed that a substantial proportion of loans borrowed by this administration were not judiciously utilized and that in most cases the borrowed money benefitted the creditor nations. The paper also found out that the legislature is not resisting this administration's attempt to borrow for unproductive ventures recklessly and senselessly. The paper further disclosed that this government is not only politically rascal but does not respect the law. It recommends the need for lenders to ensure that loans given to countries are judiciously used for the intended purpose, the National Assembly must not just be a toothless bulldog but must always scrutinize loan requests by the president before approval and finally, the legislature must look at previous piled- up loans before approving new ones.