Last Friday I posited that one of the reasons why the Naira is free-falling against the Dollar is because of insufficient external foreign reserve, which usually serves as a cushion during periods like this. I ended by saying that the GEJ government, that enjoyed an extended period of high crude oil prices, had poor monetary programs and failed fiscal policies. If it had, we would have had enough reserve to cushion the present fall. It did not go down well with some ardent supporters of President Goodluck. Someone even said I was just speaking English. So today, I would speak in figures, to further prove that the GEJ government were fiscally irresponsible. Let’s analyze our debt profile and external reserves beginning from President Obasanjo’s tenure.

President Olusegun Obasanjo inherited an external debt of about $30 billion. I am sure we all remember the series of negotiations entered with the Paris Club during his tenure where $18 billion was written off after Nigeria coughed out a whopping $12 billion. When he left in 2007, he left a total external debt of about $3,348 billion. For Foreign reserve, Obasanjo inherited: $3.7 billion and left$45 billion in 2007I’ll like to add that as at 2003, Oil Price per Barrel averaged at $30 and it was $90 when he left office.

President Musa Yar’adua inherited an external debt of $3.5 billion and left $4billion Dollars. Meanwhile, he grew the external reserve to about $63 billion, as a result of a windfall in the prices of oil, and eventually when he died Nigeria’s external reserve stood at $48 billion. It is to be noted that there was a crash in the prices of crude oil in 2008, due to the recession, where oil sold for less than $35 per barrel. That explains the reduced balance in the external reserve.

President Goodluck Jonathan. He inherited external debt of $4 billion Dollars. He left the external debt standing at $64 billion as at May 2015. He inherited a foreign reserve balance of $48 billion as at December 2009, as at May 2015 left $29 billion. Now, between 2010 and January 2014, the resistance line (or the average price) of crude oil stood at $100. This means GEJ had access to more money than Yar’Adua and Obasanjo, but he depleted the foreign reserve and still plunged Nigeria into further external debt.