Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu over his defence of the Federal Government’s borrowing policy, describing the claim that borrowing is not leprosy as “absolute nonsense”.

Obasanjo made the remarks on Friday at the Ajibosin Platform, a public forum held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, with the theme, “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Solve Grassroots Problems and Accelerate National Development”.

Tinubu had in April defended his administration’s borrowing policy, declaring that the government would continue to obtain loans whenever necessary, provided it could work towards repaying them.

“If we have to borrow, we borrow. Borrowing is not leprosy; we just have to work hard to be able to pay for it,” the President had said.

Reacting to the position, Obasanjo argued that the consequences of debt were more devastating than those of leprosy, as its burden could affect generations.

“And for anybody to say debt is no leprosy is absolute nonsense. Debt is worse than leprosy. Because leprosy destroys only one person. Debt destroys generations,” he said.

The former President’s criticism comes amid renewed borrowing plans by the Tinubu administration, following the President’s request to the National Assembly for approval of a supplementary external borrowing plan of $20.52 billion and €1.04 billion.

The request was contained in a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during Tuesday’s plenary.

Tinubu explained that the proposed loans would finance projects and programmes in critical sectors, including power, transportation, healthcare, education, agriculture, water supply, security, job creation and financial management reforms.

The President had also defended Nigeria’s borrowing from international financial institutions and banks, maintaining that sustained investment in infrastructure was necessary to achieve the country's ambition of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

In an essay titled, “From Reforms to Delivery: Our Infrastructure Investment and Growth Strategy”, Tinubu maintained that the focus should be on the benefits generated from borrowed funds rather than the volume of debt.

“The real question is not how much we borrow, but what we build, what value we create and what future we leave behind,” he said.

However, Obasanjo expressed concern over Nigeria’s economic performance in the last 47 years, particularly the persistent depreciation of the naira against the United States dollar.

Citing his experience when he established his farm 47 years ago, the former President recalled that the naira exchanged at N1 to $1.85, questioning how the country's currency had fallen to about N1,500 to the dollar.

“When I started my farm, 47 years ago, naira to the dollar was one naira to $1.85. Forty-seven years ago. What has Nigeria done in 47 years that we now have 1,500 naira to the dollar? What have we done?” he asked.

He also raised questions about the capacity of the country's political leaders to formulate and implement policies that would improve the welfare of citizens.

“What do our leaders know? And what do they not know? And from what they know, what can they do for us?” he queried.

Obasanjo further criticised Nigeria’s dependence on foreign financial institutions, particularly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), arguing that their economic recommendations might not adequately address the country's peculiar challenges.

He recalled that Nigeria had previously been discouraged from subsidising agriculture, despite developed countries continuing to provide financial and other forms of support to their farmers.

“World Bank and IMF were not designed for us. They were not built by us. They were built before we became independent. And that's the people who would determine what we do,” he said.

The former President cautioned against blindly adopting economic recommendations from foreign-trained experts, urging Nigerian policymakers to consider the country's unique economic realities when making decisions.