An economist, Dr Titus Okunronmu, yesterday advised  the Federal Government to further trim or check leakages in its recurrent expenditures to reduce the rising debt profile.
Okunronmu, who was a Director in the Budgetary Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), made the suggestion in an interview with newsmen in Ota, Ogun State.
According to him, the debt profile will continue to rise because majority of those on the corridor of power are not willing to make sacrifice in the face of the country’s dwindling revenue.
“Those in the corridor of power should make sacrifice because a large chunk of the nation’s revenue is used in the payment of politicians’ salaries.
“The country’s recurrent expenditure is always on the rise every year because the government has to meet the obligations to certain individuals without a corresponding increment in revenue,” he said.
The Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Dr Abraham Nwankwo, said last week that the nation’s debt profile, both domestic and international, had increased from N2 trillion in 2015 to N17.3 trillion in 2017.
Okunronmu said that the government should take a drastic step to address the problem due to the low revenue accruing to the country.
According to him, the government cannot continue to run such a recurrent with low revenue.
He also advised the Federal Government to ensure proper use of funds borrowed so that repayment would be easy.