Finance Minister Zainab Explains Why Nigeria Must Continue Borrowing

The Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed has amitted that Nigeria must take loans in order to fund the country’s infrastructure needs, Naijaparry reports.

This news platform learned that Zainab said this on Tuesday when she appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management to defend the loan request of $22.718 billion presented to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to her, Nigeria urgently needs the loan to fund the 2020 budget to create jobs and improve on the country’s infrastructure.

“We need to invest in roads, rails, and to be able to grow at a growth 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.”

Furthermore, she noted: “Nigeria does not have a debt sustainability problem but revenue challenge. Every Kobo borrowed will be judiciously used.”

Also speaking during the event, the Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola admitted that Nigeria cannot push aside its infrastructure development needs.

“It is right to have this hearing because we cannot ignore the concerns of the members of the public over the debt profile of the country,” the former Lagos leader added.

“As we cannot ignore the concerns about debts, so we cannot 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 [the] clearing of goods can happen more quickly and cheaply.”