THE Federal Government has slammed critics of its incessant solicitation for foreign loans.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who noted that such criticisms are insincere due to the state of the economy, said the failures of previous administration necessited the borrowing.
According to the minister, the government had to borrow so much because there was nothing on ground to show for funds previous administrations borrowed.
Lai made this known today during a town hall meeting in Maiduguri to redress the incessant vandalism of power and telecommunications infrastructure.
The event was also attended by the Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum.
According to Minister, it was imperative for the FG to borrow due to the appalling state of infrastructure across the country while listing completed and ongoing projects, as a result.
“Today, we have new airport terminals in Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt, the Itakpe-Warri rail line that was abandoned for decades is running.
“We have well over 13,000km of federal roads under repair, rehabilitation and reconstruction and there is a road project in every state,
“Today, we have started the countdown to when the 2nd Niger Bridge, which successive administrations have built only on paper, will be completed.
“The list of projects we are handling with the loans we obtained is long,’’ he said.
Lai also launched an attack on the previous administration over the current predicament of the country which he said necessitated the borrowings.
“For example, in their time, they claimed to have spent billions of Naira in building infrastructure, but as one can see, their infrastructure projects were only on paper.
“Today, we are still saddled with looking for resources to build the same infrastructure for which they claimed to have allocated huge resources.
“We will not be deterred by the antics of those who believe they can play politics with everything,” the Minister said.
