APC chairman supports Buhari's loan move, says borrowing is inevitable

APC chairman supports Buhari's loan move, says borrowing is inevitable

- President Muhammadu Buhari's plan for an external loan has the support of his political party

- All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun is in support of the president's move

- Oyegun says borrowing in inevitable for Nigeria at this time

The chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has thrown his weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari's plan to borrow externally to shore up the economy as Nigeria continues battling recession.

Chairman Oyegin backs President Buhari, says Nigeria must borrow to invest in infrastructure and grow the economy

According to Oyegun, borrowing is inevitable in view of the current economic realities in the country, adding that Nigeria must borrow to invest in infrastructure and grow the economy.

The ruling party chairman made the comments on Sunday, December 5, after receiving a lifetime achievement award presented to him by the Warri Choral Society during a classical music concert the Society held in his honour at the Muson Center in Lagos.

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Vanguard reports that Oyegun assured his audience that the borrowings will not be used to pay salaries.

His words: “If you read the newspapers, you hear the president being advised to pump money into the economy. So the question is where is the money coming from? Simple! It has to come from somewhere including borrowing — both internal and external.

“To get this country going again, you have to pay contractors. Some contractors have not been paid for 4, 5, 6, 10 years.

“So long as the borrowing is done not to pay salaries which the President Buhari administration will not do, but invested to create opportunities, solve our problems of power and things like that.

“To allow people to have money to consume, to buy goods, to pay for services so that factories can produce. So it is that cycle. We must kick-start the economy and to kick-start it will need money, lots of money.” 

The Senate had rejected the consideration of a request by President Buhari for a $29.9bn External Borrowing Rolling Plan over a period of three years.

The action of the red chamber has prompted frequent meetings between President Buhari and Senate President Bukola Saraki, in order for the Executive and Legisslative arms of government to find a solution.

Meanwhile, the Dangote Group has promised to support the federal government in exploring key sectors of the economy  in order to towards cushion the effect of the recession.

In a statement signed by the chief corporate communication officer, Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, the group promised to explore opportunities opening up in agriculture, mining and infrastructure through partnership with the governments.

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In a related development, major international magazines including Financial Times, Bloomberg and some others, in their recent publications strongly condemned President Buhari policies in solving Nigeria's crisis.

Bloomberg noted that Buhari’s rigid leadership style has made the country's economic problems harder to solve.