President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday the Federal Government needed foreign loans to fund critical projects such as roads, rail and power in the country.
He said his administration needed the loans to address the deficit in the nation’s infrastructure.
The president, according to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, stated these at a meeting with members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Some critics of the current administration have accused the government of mortgaging Nigeria’s future with the increasing foreign loans.
But the president insisted that current efforts at addressing the infrastructural deficit in Nigeria would attract investors to the country.
He said: “We have so many challenges with infrastructure.
“We just have to take loans to do roads, rail, and power, so that investors will find us attractive and come here to put their money.”
President Buhari also expressed regret that failure by successive governments in the country to provide infrastructure for effective transportation deprived Nigeria of its well-deserved status as the West African hub for air cargo transportation and trans-shipment of goods.
