“Nigeria is poor, we shouldn’t deceive ourselves” – Senate President, Lawan

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has said that Nigeria is poor and there will be need for the country to continue to borrow in order to survive.

The Senate President disclosed this on Thursday while briefing State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

Lawan stated that mandating the citizens to pay tax in this trying time will not be fair, as the country needs to improve on her infrastructure, and will need funds to do that.

He said, “You can’t, in my view and judgement, tax Nigerians further for you to raise the money for infrastructural development; other countries do that, but we’ve serious situation across the country.

“So, you can’t put taxes on the people. The only option left is for us to borrow responsibly, utilise prudently and economically, and ensure that the projects are self-sustaining; that they can pay back the loan.”

In his opinion, the only solution to the current economic challenge will be to borrow from external sources, in order to develop the country’s infrastructure.

“Our options are really very limited as a country. First, we don’t have the necessary revenue; Nigeria is poor, we shouldn’t deceive ourselves. Nigeria is not rich given the circumstances we live in, given the challenges we have.

“Our resources are so low, our revenues are so low; therefore, the option of not doing anything just to sit (because we’ve no money, we should not go for infrastructure development) is not an option worthy of consideration. You cannot keep the economy stagnant.”

Source: Daily Post

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