Babatunde Fashola, minister of
works and housing, has described some of the critics of the federal
government’s borrowings as “backward economists”.
In July, the Debt Management
Office (DMO) released figures which showed that Nigeria’s debt increased by N560
billion in the first quarter of 2019.
According to the DMO, the total
debt stock as of March 31, 2019, stood at N24.9 trillion compared to the N24.3
trillion as of December 31, 2018.
The breakdown showed that the
total external debt stood at N7.8 trillion ($25.6 billion) while domestic debt
was N17 trillion ($55.6 billion).
But speaking during a meeting at
the Lagos Business School (LBS), Fashola said some economists who could not run
small businesses successfully had been harsh on the government for borrowing to
finance infrastructure projects in the country.
“Today, the government is
constructing roads in every state of Nigeria and while revenues are a challenge
to prompt completion, some experts who have not successfully shown they can run
a small business moan the loudest about Nigeria’s borrowing to fund
infrastructure investment,” he said.
“A Nigerian has borrowed billions
of dollars to build a refinery, petrochemical plant, fertiliser plant and gas
processing plant, yet some backyard economists complain that a country whose
population is in the hundreds of millions is borrowing too much to fix rail,
roads, ports (air and sea) and power.
“They come to the public space to
talk about the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and infrastructure of the United
States and OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development)
countries. But they are ominously silent on America’s public debt that exceeds
$21 trillion.”
He said a lot of Nigerians go on
holidays to places like the US for medical treatment, seek for their
citizenship, fly their airplanes and use their airports but unknowingly pay in
part for the debt these countries have incurred for building the infrastructure
they enjoy.
He challenged business students
at the LBS to seize the public space from “those half-baked economists and
enlighten the public about the necessity to invest before you can claim a
dividend.”
He said federal roads such as the
Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Apapa-Oworonshoki expressway, Ikorodu-Sagamu and
Lagos-Badagry were built about four decades ago and have outlived their design
lives.
“What we now hear is the
inconvenience, instead of the acknowledgement that government is now responding
and providing the service we all craved for almost two decades,” he said.
“Please be aware that all those
roads under construction are now construction sites and, in the world that we
now live in, safety on construction sites is now a big issue.
“Not only for motorists who have
to drive through them but also for our brothers and sisters who are working
there to deliver the infrastructure we desperately crave. A camera sees only
what the man behind the lens wants it to see. So, instead of inconvenience, I
see service, with the hope that things will get better.”
On the widespread kidnappings,
the minister said: “I make the point that this is not a novel crime in Nigeria.
“From when I was a child, we were
reminded by our parents about the threats of kidnappers. So, what we have is a
crime pattern that has come back to the front burner while cases of armed
robbery at homes and banks seem to have taken a back burner.
“The question I urge all of us to
ask is why has it come back? Is organised crime gathering more momentum? Is the
presence of police in deterring bank robberies forcing organised criminals to
re-think and re-strategize? Is the gradual reduction of cash at homes and on
our persons, through greater use of bank cards and electronic wallets, making
home attacks less rewarding and profitable?
“Simply put, are the criminals
saying to us, if we cannot rob a bank or a home for cash, why not seize the
owner of the cash (hostage taking) and get their people to bring the cash to
us?
“If this is the case, what are we
doing or going to do about it? We should seriously consider and effect
lifestyle changes that avoid obscene display of wealth which makes us
vulnerable as potential victims.”
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