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| President Muhammadu Buhari |
Ministers on Tuesday made a case for the approval of the $22.718 billion loan request made by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly.
Ministers of Finance (Mrs. Zinab Ahmed); Works and Housing, (Babatunde Fashola) Minister of State for Transport (Gbemisola Saraki) as well as the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO) Patience Oniha defended the request.
The ministers, who appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management headed by Safana Dayyabu (Kano, APC), the facility will enable the government to meet up the infrastructural needs of the people.
They gave reasons the country should have the $22.7 billion funds immediately, saying it will help to bridge the gap of infrastructure development and job creation.
Mrs Ahmed underscored the need to invest in roads, rails, and to be able to grow at a rate ‘better than we are growing now”
She said: “They are strictly for infrastructure development. So that we can address the deficit that we have. We know we must comply with some criteria. Every Kobo borrowed will be judiciously used.”
On the level of debts owed by the country, she assured the committee members that “Nigeria does not have a debt sustainability problem but revenue challenge.”
Fashola urged the National Assembly to approve the loan, by adding that its important to do so in the interest of the country’s economy.
He said: “As we cannot ignore the concerns about debts, we cannot also ignore the concerns and demands for the provision of life sustaining infrastructure.
“So, everybody wants a road, everybody wants a rail project, everybody wants a port and efficient airports. They want to ensure that our ports are efficient so that business can function more effectively, so that clearing of goods can happen more quickly and cheaply.
“And in the midst of these physical challenges that she (the Minister Finance, Budget and National Planning) has identified, the revenue are not just enough to meet these challenges.”
He noted that full funding have not been received for any budget in four years and that deficit cannot be financed. “We must find a away to finance these assets. We will be spending today money to secure tomorrow assets” he told the lawmakers.
According to him, 524 roads projects are currently being executed, while N73 billion has been released in 2019.
“We have contractors willing to do the work but we cannot pay them. We have had deficit budgets for a long time and so we have to borrow,” the minister explained.
Senator Saraki told the lawmakers of the need to complete the Kano-Lagos and Niger Delta coastal rails.
She concurred with the others on the need to borrow the loan.
But Dayyabu insisted on meeting the govermment agencies where the projects are domiciled, saying all the proposed projects must be backed with plans for execution as well as the manner of benefits for Nigerians.
