Yesterday, we brought you an editorial by the PUNCH Editorial Board which called on President Muhammadu Buhari to put an end to the incessant borrowing and accumulation of foreign debts while seeking other ways to fund its expenditure (the editorial also suggested reduction of the cost of governance, widening the tax net, blocking avenues for revenue leakages, among others).
This was following the recent outcry by Nigerians, mostly the critics of the Buhari-led administration, who have blasted the Federal Government for plunging the country into a huge foreign debt crisis – with some suggesting that the current administration is slowly selling Nigeria to China.
However, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has come out in defense of the Federal Government by criticizing those tackling the government and labeling them as being ‘insincere’.
He said this at a town hall meeting in Maiduguri, Borno State, where he addressed vandalism of power and telecommunications infrastructure, stating the government was not borrowing for recurrent expenditures but for projects that will benefit Nigerians in the long run.
He said:
“For example, we were told that it would cost the Federal Government N3.8bn 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.
“Naysayers have recently ramped up their criticism of the Buhari administration for borrowing. These critics are insincere. We are not borrowing for recurrent expenditure or to pay salaries. We are borrowing to build world-class infrastructure that will benefit generations of Nigerians. And we have a lot to show for the loans we have taken.
“It is an irony that those who are criticizing us today performed abysmally in terms of modernizing our infrastructure, even when they served at a time when our earnings were multiples of what we get today.
“Had they embarked on the kind of infrastructure development we are currently engaged in, perhaps there would have been no reason for us to borrow as much as we are doing now.
“They claimed to have spent billions of Naira in building infrastructure but as one can see, their infrastructure projects were only on paper.
“Today, we are still saddled with looking for resources to build the same infrastructure for which they claimed to have allocated huge resources. We will not be deterred by the antics of those who believe they can play politics with everything.
“Today, the standard-gauge rail lines between Lagos and Ibadan as well as Abuja and Kaduna are running well. Today, we have new airport terminals in Abuja, Kano, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. Today, the Itakpe-Warri rail line that was abandoned for decades is running
“Today, we have well over 13,000km of federal roads under repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. There is a road project in every state. Today, we have started the countdown to when the 2nd Niger Bridge, which successive administrations have built only on paper will be completed.”
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