Adeosun: We are investing in key infrastructure
Reducing the Federal Government’s very high recurrent expenditure in order to increase investment in infrastructure is the key to Nigeria’s future economic progress and the Buhari administration has been concentrating its efforts in that direction, Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun said in Abuja yesterday. Speaking at the 14th Daily Trust Annual Dialogue, she said the government’s plan to borrow money to develop infrastructure is the surest way to invest for future generations going by the present economic predicament the country is facing. She said when the Lagos to Calabar and Lagos to Kaduna rail lines are built, many states along the routes will prosper. Nigerian roads do not last long due to the heavy loads on them arising from the absence of railroads, the minister said.
Adeosun said future generations would benefit more from the government’s borrowing plans as against the insinuation that the borrowing will enslave the future generations. Adeosun said no country in the world built its railway systems through private sector, adding that government is the one that builds railways and later concessions them to the private sector to run. She said, “The Federation Account Allocation Committee needs N700bn to satisfy the three tiers of government’s payroll and overhead costs. Last month FAAC shared only N310bn out of which the Federal Government got about N140bn but it needs N330bn for its payroll and overhead costs alone. So, when we start having the debate whether we should borrow or not, I don’t think it is an argument. You have no choice. If you are waiting for oil prices to recover, the prognosis is that it is not going back to $110 per barrel soon.”
The minister said, “From 2010 through to 2015 our reserves (savings) were $42bn but by 2015 it had gone down to $29.8bn. Our debt had risen from $5.24bn to $10.94bn. Our GDP was growing in the wrong direction.” She said despite having some of the highest oil prices that we have ever had in this country, “we had high