Muhammadu Sanusi II, emir of Kano, recounted an event to The Sun in which the previous government proposed borrowing $1.8 billion from China to construct a 75-kilometer rail line when the naira was worth N197 to the dollar.
Claiming to have foreseen the likelihood of the naira's depreciation and the insurmountability of the debt, he was a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and an economist.
He cautioned the government on multiple occasions that a depreciation of the naira to 500 to 1 would cause the national debt to balloon to N1 trillion per annum, much over the state's revenue collection capacity.
His experience in Kano will serve as an example, he promised. In order to construct 75 kilometres of rail, the last administration sought to borrow $1.8 billion from China.
At the time, the currency rate was N197 to $3. The naira was never going to stay at that arbitrary level of N200 for very long, in my opinion as a qualified economist and ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Giving advice to the government was a part of my duties. If the naira depreciates to N500 to the dollar, the amount you want to borrow will become N1 trillion. I told them that.
To pay off the debt each year, you will require close to N100 billion, since your income from internal sources is not even close to N20 billion. It can not go on forever.
Despite Sanusi's repeated warnings, the authorities allegedly ignored his counsel. Sanusi, who was worried about the consequences in the long run, said he had no choice but to publicly criticise the loan.
He said that the government would have gone bankrupt paying wages and other essentials and that education and other essential programmes would have taken a financial hit as a result of the borrowing.
With the current exchange rate of N1,500 to the dollar, he determined that the train project would now cost N3 trillion.
Sanusi acknowledged that he nearly lost his emirate due to his firm stance on the issue, but he believed it was critical to prevent future generations from bearing the burden of an unsustainable debt.