The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Friday admitted that despite the continuous foreign loans being borrowed by the country being a heavy burden; it was a necessary option in view of the nation’s dwindling revenue.
Lawan posited this at a news briefing in Abuja to mark the second anniversary of his administration.
According to him, in a scenario where the country had no money and there was need for development, the country would need to build infrastructure.
Noting that increasing taxation was out of the option because of the hardship it will impose on the people, he pin-pointed ‘borrowing responsibly’ as the only viable option, adding that before that was done, there was need to identify those essential infrastructure that will in turn, grow the economy.
Speaking further,
Lawan, admitting that more needed to be done to educate Nigerians on of such issues because many Nigerians feel that the debt burden is too heavy and irresponsible, noted that it was a necessary burden because to do otherwise will be irresponsible of any government to keep an economy that is stagnated.
The country’s current debt profile, according to the Debt Management Office hit N33.10 trillion as at the end of the first quarter of 2021; representing an increase of N191bn compared to the N32.91trn recorded in December 2020.
The debt figures include the debt stock of the federal and state governments, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
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