The Federal Government of Nigeria has justified reasons why it is borrowing to fix the country’s infrastructural deficit.
This is coming few days after after former president Olusegun Obasanjo lamented on the continuous borrowing of the Buhari’s led administration.
Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, stated the government’s position that it is borrowing to execute key infrastructure in the country.
READ ALSO: Borrowing to accumulate debt for next generation is criminal – Obasanjo
He made this known on Thursday at a town-hall meeting to address the destruction of power and communication infrastructure in Maiduguri, Borno State.
According to him, the government is not borrowing to finance recurrent expenditure but is, instead. utilising it to build world-class infrastructure across the country which will eventually benefit generations of Nigerians.
“We are borrowing to build world-class infrastructure that will benefit generations of Nigerians. We have a lot to show for the loans we have taken.
“There is a road project in every state. Today, we have started the countdown to when the second Niger bridge, which successive administrations have built only on paper, will be completed.
“The list of projects we are handling with the loans we obtained is long.”
The minister also bemoaned the vandalisation of public infrastructure across the federation, lamenting that it has a negative impact on the country’s finances and expenditure.
He said: “For example, we were told that it would cost the federal government N3.8 billion to repair just four bridges that were damaged by vandals and petrol-laden tankers.
“That’s a huge amount that could have been used to build new infrastructure. It is common knowledge that massive infrastructure deficit is among the challenges we face in Nigeria.
“This is why the Muhammadu Buhari administration has deliberately adopted an inclusive infrastructure provisioning framework that spreads to all sections of the country.
“Despite a drastic drop in revenues and competing priorities, especially that of battling insecurity, the federal government has invested heavily in providing new infrastructure, as well as reconstructing and rehabilitating existing ones.”
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