$12bn Debt Payment In 2005 Wasn’t A Good Decision – Fashola Slams Ex-President Obasanjo

Nigeria’s Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola has blasted the 2005 Olusegun Obasanjo-led government’s decision to pay $12 billion in cash to Nigeria’s creditors out of the $30 billion sovereign debt.

Fashola claimed at the time that tackling infrastructure was the smarter option, and that if he had been a member of the Federal Executive Council at the time, he would have violently opposed the decision. He suggested that such a large sum of money would have been better spent on vital infrastructure investments that would have eventually been used to service the debt.

When the decision was made, Fashola argued that combating infrastructure decline was a bigger priority than repaying the nation’s debt, as he said during a town hall meeting organized by Business Hallmark titled “Nigeria’s Infrastructure Revolution; Road to a New Future.” “Our government in 2005 as a matter of policy decided to go and pay debt of $12 billion cash but our house was in very dire need. That was a policy choice. I would have opposed that decision if I was in government because we needed to invest urgently at that time.” Fashola, said at a town hall meeting organized by Business Hallmark themed; “Nigeria’s infrastructure revolution; Road to a New Future”

“If we had invested, the results of those investments would have earned us more revenues, much more income and would put us in a better position to service those debts. Fast forward to 2015, after paying $12 billion, we are now owing $32 billion.

“We look for the resources, invest them in infrastructure and use the returns to pay back this loan.”

The Minister, on the other hand, stated that the Buhari administration has prioritized infrastructure, stating that the government is currently implementing 896 road and bridge projects totaling over 13,000 kilometers across the country.