President Bola Tinubu has defended the huge external borrowing by his administration, saying that borrowing isn’t criminal.
According to him, external loans taken by his administration were meant to finance serious infrastructure deficits and long-term investments.
While speaking during a nationwide media chat on Monday night, Tinubu said there was a mismatch of needs leading to a serious infrastructure gap
He said, “We have been coming from a mismatch of our needs. We have a serious infrastructure deficit. We don’t have the short term to manage a long-term business. It’s a mismatch. That’s one.
“Yes, we have headed the wrong road in the past. I don’t want to look at that. I want to think about prosperity for our country. I want to think about tomorrow today. What is the element of this borrowing? Capital project. Our roads are terrible. Our internet is not up to the level that we want. As a technology-driven nation.
“We are still indebted to electricity and division in power generation. How do you slice it? You have to take it with the two hands and brace up for a very, very strong push. It’s like a pregnant woman, yes, big expectations, big contractions, and labour pain.
“You go through it. The baby is born. You are happy. If that baby is alive, you have the joy of birth. And that is what we are working at. It’s not just because we want to inflict pain on anybody. No, it’s because we share the same values. We want this country to grow. There’s no other way out of it unless we invest in our today, prosperity and opportunity”.