The Federal Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has described those who condemned the rate of borrowing by the Federal Government as “backyard economists.”
The former governor of Lagos State said this in his keynote address at the Lagos Business School.
Talking about how government policy affects business and society in national development, Fashola said those finding faults with government’s rate of borrowing were largely unsuccessful individuals.
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“Today, the government is constructing roads in every state of Nigeria and while revenues are a challenge to prompt completion.
“Some ‘experts’ who have not successfully shown they can run a small business moan the loudest about Nigeria’s borrowing to fund infrastructure investment.
“A Nigerian, has borrowed billions of dollars to build a refinery, petrochemical plant, fertiliser plant and gas processing plant, yet some backyard economists complain that a country whose population is in the hundreds of millions is borrowing too much to fix rail, roads, ports (air and sea) and power,” he said.
Yetunde Adegoke
