Nigeria’s Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, has criticized the decision of 2005 Olusegun Obasanjo led government to pay $12 billion in cash to Nigeria’s creditors, out of the $30 billion sovereign debt in 2005.
According to Fashola as at the time tackling infrastructure was the more smarter move and he would have vehemently opposed the action if he was a member of the Federal Executive Council then. He argued that such a huge chunk of cash was better channeled into strategic investment in infrastructure, which would have been used to repay the debt later on.
Fashola, who spoke at a town hall meeting organised by Business Hallmark themed; “Nigeria’s infrastructure revolution; Road to a New Future”, maintained that tackling infrastructure decay was a higher priority than the repayment of the nation’s debt when the decision was taken.
“Our government in 2005 as a matter of policy decided to go and pay debt of $12 billion cash but our house was in very dire…
Source: Linda Ikeji
