The Criminalization Of Debts By Deji Bademosi
We seem to be fast becoming a society that criminalizes debt. When the current governor of Anambra State, Soludo, disclosed on TV that his predecessor, Obiano, left a debt of N109billion, almost everyone shouted.
Some called the man who just left office unprintable names.
Whatever Soludo meant to achieve with the way he answered the question is anyone’s guess. And I think he did achieve it. It’s the reason why the subject has become a big talking point. But I also think we should avoid making it look as if it’s a crime to borrow. Even Soludo may have to borrow at some point to fulfill some of those beautiful campaign promises he made.
So for me, the most important thing to ask or find out is, what were the borrowings used for? People can then match the borrowings with the projects or whatever they were used. To stylishly accuse your predecessor of wracking up debts and stopping there is playing to the gallery. Go beyond that and let the people know what the debts were used for.
Many are quick to cite a former governor of the State as having left N75billion in savings when he left office. Good. But he probably didn’t think it was necessary to use the funds to address the myriad of problems in the State because they were obviously many challenges in the state the funds could have been used to address. So if another man comes in, sees those challenges and uses the funds to fix them, that can’t be a crime.
I’m not in anyway holding forth for Obiano. But to accuse him of piling up debts without also letting people know what the debts were used for is in bad taste.
We need to change our views about debt and adopt a constructive attitude towards it.
It’s not a crime to borrow.
Let’s not criminalize debts.
Deji Bademosi
