The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is left with no option but to borrow to revive Nigeria’s ailing economy.
Buhari’s plan to borrow an estimated US$29.9bn from foreign lenders has been rejected by the Senate and opposed by some leading Nigerian economists.
But Oyegun said Nigeria needed to borrow and invest in infrastructure and grow the economy.
The party chairman was quoted to have said this after receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Warri Choral Society at the Muson Centre in Lagos.
This was contained in a statement from his office in Abuja on Monday.
Oyegun stated, “If you read the newspapers, you hear the President being advised to pump money into the economy.
“So, the question is, where is the money coming from? Simple, it has to come from somewhere, including borrowing – both internal and external.
“To get this country going again, you have to pay contractors. Some contractors have not been paid for four, five, six, 10 years.
“So long as the borrowing is done, not to pay salaries, which the President Buhari administration will not do, but invested to create opportunities, solve our problems of power and things like that.”
Buhari’s plan to borrow an estimated US$29.9bn from foreign lenders has been rejected by the Senate and opposed by some leading Nigerian economists.
But Oyegun said Nigeria needed to borrow and invest in infrastructure and grow the economy.
The party chairman was quoted to have said this after receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Warri Choral Society at the Muson Centre in Lagos.
This was contained in a statement from his office in Abuja on Monday.
Oyegun stated, “If you read the newspapers, you hear the President being advised to pump money into the economy.
“So, the question is, where is the money coming from? Simple, it has to come from somewhere, including borrowing – both internal and external.
“To get this country going again, you have to pay contractors. Some contractors have not been paid for four, five, six, 10 years.
“So long as the borrowing is done, not to pay salaries, which the President Buhari administration will not do, but invested to create opportunities, solve our problems of power and things like that.”
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