Borrowing to fix infrastructure will boost economic growth, Minister Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has said.
He opined that the country would not make meaningful progress without taking loans to boost infrastructure while speaking in Abuja at NANForum, the flagship interview programme of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
“It is in our interest that government does some borrowing and spends it on investment because that sector contributes to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and contributes to employment.
“I do not support irresponsible borrowing so let us be clear; there has to be some sense to this.
“So long as you are borrowing to invest and you are investing in assets then we can have this debate from morning till night and I don’t think I will come out unsuccessful.
The minister said the Federal Government’s expenditure on road infrastructure increased from N18 billion in 2015 to about N400 billion this year.
He noted that improved investments in infrastructure by the government had brought profitability to all actors in the economic value chain.
Fashola said more wealth and job opportunities had been created with 850 contracts awarded and 13, 000 kilometres of roads and bridges under construction and repairs across Nigeria’s federal highways.
