The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has said that Nigeria is in so much debt due to borrowing to survive two recessions.

Buhari said this on Thursday at the presentation of the 2022 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of lawmakers at the National Assembly in Abuja.

He explained that part of what necessitated the borrowings was the economic recession that hit the country.

He said, “As you are aware, we have witnessed two economic recessions within the period of this administration. In both cases, we had to spend our way out of recession, which necessitated a resort to growing the public debt.

“It is unlikely that our recovery from each of the two recessions would have grown as fast without the sustained government expenditure funded by debt.”

Earlier, the President noted that Nigerians have the right to be worried about the Federal Government’s growing debt profile but stated that the debt level of his regime was within sustainable limits.

He said, “Some have expressed concern over our resort to borrowing to finance our fiscal gaps. They are right to be concerned.

“However, we believe that the debt level of the Federal Government is still within sustainable limits. Borrowings are targeted at specific strategic projects and can be verified publicly.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had announced plans by the FG to finance the proposed 2022 budget deficit pegged at 6.258 trillion through a new set of loans.