“Nigeria is Not Rich, Borrow Responsibly” – Senate President, Ahmad Lawan

Nigeria is Not Rich, The Only Option Left Is For Us To Borrow Responsibly, according to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, the country has low resources and the only option left is to borrow.

Addressing reporters after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss important national issues at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday, June 24, the Senate President stated that Nigeria is a poor country and the only option left to address its infrastructural deficit is to borrow responsibly.

Lawan added that the National Assembly would always observe due diligence before giving approval to the executive for any loan request.

He Said;

“Our options are really very limited as a country. First, we don’t have the necessary revenues. Nigeria is poor; we shouldn’t deceive ourselves.

“Nigeria is not rich, given the circumstances we live in, given the challenges we have. Our resources are so low; our revenues are so low, and therefore, the option of not doing anything, just to sit — because we have no money, we shouldn’t go for infrastructure development is not even an option worthy of consideration.

“You cannot keep the economy stagnant. Two, you cannot, in my view and judgment, tax Nigerians further for you to raise the money for infrastructure development.

Other countries do that, but we have serious situations across the country, so you cannot put taxes on people.

“The other option is a public-private partnership.

You need to create the environment to attract investors to come into our country; because of the security challenges we face today, not many investors would like to come to Nigeria.

“In fact, even those inside Nigeria may not like to invest properly in this sector of infrastructure development.