Tinubu defends borrowing to fund Nigerian infrastructure
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Vanguard
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is defending borrowing to fund infrastructure, including the Lagos-Calabar and Sokoto-Badagry highways, the electricity grid and ports. He says these investments should cut logistics costs, support production and create jobs, in an essay announced on Nigerian news platforms.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has defended external borrowing to finance infrastructure, saying the central issue is how the funds are used and the value created, rather than the size of the debt. In an essay on his investment and growth strategy, he cited the Lagos-Calabar, Sokoto-Badagry and Trans-Saharan highways, the modernisation of the electricity grid and upgrades to Lagos’s main commercial ports, Vanguard reports.
According to Bola Tinubu, the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway could reduce logistics costs along its corridor by 15% to 20%, add up to 2% to gross domestic product and create about 100,000 direct jobs and more than 150,000 indirect jobs. The president said these investments are needed to support his goal of making Nigeria a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
The defence comes after Bola Tinubu’s request on 27 October for $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion in external loans, and opposition politician Atiku Abubakar’s challenge to the proposal. It also comes on the day Nigeria’s Senate was asked to consider the funding, while the government announced a $4.8 billion reserve for the states and Abuja.
