Borrowing is good – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said that borrowing is not bad, provided the funds are invested in infrastructure rather than services or consumption.   

This is despite the increasing debt profile of the nation.

After an inspection tour of the Lagos-Ibadan rail line in the company of the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, the media aide of the Information minister, Segun Adeyemi, released a statement, while speaking to journalists saying:

“There is no better way to answer Nigerians as to what we have done with the money we have borrowed than this trip. On this trip, you have seen first hand the stations being constructed, the rail lines, and the people who are working on the projects”.

He further stated that “rather than arguing with critics, we opted to allow you the journalists to come and see for yourselves what we are doing with the money we are borrowing”.

“We didn’t borrow money for services or overhead expenditure. We borrowed money for capital projects: rail, roads, bridges, power, infrastructure generally.

“There is nothing bad in borrowing, provided the funds are invested in infrastructure, especially when it will create jobs, create an enabling environment for the economy”.

Rotimi Amaechi also explained that $1.6 billion is being expended on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line and the stations.

He however, appealed to the national assembly to approve a $5.3 billion Chinese loan request to enable the government execute the Ibadan-Kano standard gauge rail line.