Borrowing to fund infrastructure is justified – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has justified his administration’s borrowing to finance infrastructure, saying that government took the loans in the interest of the country.

The President made this known as he spoke at a virtual meeting with members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) at the State House, Abuja where he insisted that the country must fix its roads to save lives.

On the economy, he noted the challenges posed by the “collapse of the oil market” and the decision of government to abide by the reduced oil production quota allocated to it by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Buhari stressed the position of agriculture in the government’s scheme to reduce joblessness and poverty and also broached the COVID-19 pandemic and how it necessitated the recent policies on energy and fuel saying the Federal Government took the decisions because it places the country above politics.

Commending the chairman and the members of the council for their patriotism, the president pledged to continue to draw from their wisdom, knowledge and experiences as the nation deals with challenging economic times.

Earlier, the chairman, Prof. Doyin Salami, had highlighted the council’s recommendations on poverty reduction and stimulation of non-debt investment inflows, as promised at their last meeting.

It recommended steps for the effective implementation of government’s plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, as well as measures to curb poverty disparity in Nigeria.

The council promised to set out a full policy paper that would, in the first instance, stop more Nigerians from falling into poverty and thereafter, further plans on reducing the headcount in the country.

PEAC also outlined a number of measures aimed at aggressively increasing the country’s non-debt investment inflow, including means to improve investor’s perception of the country and the proposed establishment of a five to 10 billion dollars investment and growth fund to invest in.