President Muhammadu Buhari
Nigeria needs the loan from China to correct infrastructure
deficit, achieve economic recovery as well as its growth plan within the
shortest time frame.
Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, the Special Assistant to the President
on Justice Reform Sector/National Coordinator, Open Government
Partnership, said this when she reacted to criticisms that loan from
China would mortgage the future of the country.
Ibekaku-Nwagwu, a Senatorial aspirant in Enugu West on the platform
of the All Progressives Congress, said this in Enugu on Tuesday.
“How can we genuinely experience any economic growth without
infrastructural development, especially when the country lacks the
capacity to fund such under this current economic crunch?
“World over, developed countries build their economies by
augmenting with foreign loans, so long there is a well-structured plan
to repay. President Muhammadu Buhari has the discipline and prudency to
manage such funds.
“The problem we experienced under previous administrations was
that they were reckless in spending, especially when they borrowed to
service recurrent expenditures which gave room for such monies to end up
in the pockets of individuals.’’
She said that Buhari’s administration had tied each loan to
specific capital projects with terms and conditions of contract clearly
spelt out with prospective contractors before China releasesd such
funds.
According to her, some of the debts incurred are self-liquidating.
“It is better to collect a loan and use it to build standard
roads that can be repaid with monies collected from toll-gates than
allowing such roads in deplorable conditions.”
On the complaint that projects to be financed with such loans would
go to Chinese firms, she said that the bottom line was delivering
quality projects and not who gets what.
“They must justify the huge tax payers’ funds they are giving
out as loans by creating employment for her citizens and ensuring that
Chinese firms are awarded the contracts.
Nigeria’s partnership with China, she added, had resulted in the
execution of vital projects on infrastructure valued at over five
billion dollars across the country in the last three years.
Ibekaku-Nwagwu said that the projects were in the areas of
infrastructure, human capacity development, power, transport and
agriculture.
She urged the people of Enugu West to support the President and his
aspiration to help make appropriate legislation in the 9th Assembly for
the good governance of the zone and the country at large.
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