A member of the House of Representatives, Joseph Edionwele (Edo-PDP), said purposeful borrowing by government was critical for infrastructure development.
Supporting President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to obtain 29.9 billion dollars foreign loan, Edionwele told the News Agency Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja the loan was worthwhile.
He said that there “is no much ado about it” about the external borrowing plan as long as it would be used for viable projects with payback capabilities.
The lawmaker said that he and other like minds in the National Assembly would give the proposal a positive nod when it would be represented.
He stated that the only way out of recession was for government to pump money into the system through massive infrastructural development.
On the 2016 budget performance, Edionwele, who is a member of the Committee on Appropriation of the house, said the budget had barely achieved 50 per cent performance.
According to him, from the committee’s interaction with Minister of Finance and her Budget and National Planning counterpart, the dwindling financial fortunes of the country has its toll on financial performance of the budget.
On his constituency project, he said that he embarked on extensive empowerment projects, programmes and medical outreaches with personal funds “as constituency projects were not forthcoming’’.
Another legislator, Rep. Sani Saidu (APC-Katsina), told NAN that external borrowing was necessary to help the country out of recession.
According to Saidu, taking loan to service a country is not out of place if it is with the right intention.
“Although we are yet to receive the details from the executive, when we do, the permission will be granted.
“We that know Buhari very well, we know what he can do, we are not afraid to grant him the permission to take loan from anywhere.
“We know the kind of person he is. If not because of the condition of the country, Buhari wouldn’t have asked for loan to help the country.
“We don’t envisage any problem with him; we are confident that he will do the right thing,” he said. (NAN)
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