Prof. Binta Tijjani Jibril, Director of IIIBF-BUK
Every citizen must be concerned with government debt, a Nigerian academic has explained
This is because it someway somehow affects development efforts
Ghana’s public debt has in recent times become topical
Prof. Binta Tijjani Jibril, Director of the International Islamic Institute of Banking and Finance of Bayero University, Kano (IIIBF-BUK) has explained why it is important for citizens to be interested about debt of their government.
According to her, debts accrued by governments have ripple and trickle-down effects on many areas of the development matrix.
She was answering a question on the monthly Zoom webinar organized by the Islamic Finance Research Insititute, Ghana, IFRIG; on the imperative for people to be concerned with public debt.
“Debt to GDP deals with the sustainability of debt and once it reaches a certain threshold, we start feeling the burden as individuals as in the quantum of money that government would otherwise allocate to provide social services like health, education, infrastructure, roads, railways.
“Because money is now being diverted in huge amounts to service debt, therefore it slows down economic growth and exacerbates poverty, so it something we should all be concerned with,” she stressed.
“Once a debt is unstainable, each and everyone of us will feel the pinch and then it will become very difficult for the economy to pick up and grow,” she added.
Monthly webinars are part of IFRIG’s Islamic Finance advocacy programme that seeks to project non-interest banking as a financial inclusion measure and also a viable vehicle for government to stay off rising debt.
During the Islamic Finance International Conference, IFIC, held in early November 2021, experts from within and outside Ghana explained how Islamic Finance can greatly contribute towards debt-free funding of major infrastructure projects.
IFRIG is a research institution focused on the Islamic Banking and Finance ecosystem in the country and across the continent.
Their efforts currently are pivoted in the area of advocacy and capacity building with the medium to long term aspirations of leveraging on research to usher Ghana into incremental adaptation of Islamic finance – banking and insurance.
Some of IFRIG’s partners for IFIC 2021 included: S.A.I.D Academy for Arabic and English, the Lakeside University College, Ghana (LUCG), International Open University (IOU), International Institute for Islamic Banking and Finance of the Bayero University, Kano (IIIBF-BUK).
The others are: Al Huda Centre for Islamic Banking and Economy (CIBE), International Centre for Islamic Culture and Education (ICICE), Iqra Educational Complex, Accra, One17 Capital, Nigeria and a special mention to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Zakat and Sadaqah Trust Fund of Ghana.