Borrowing To Fund Government Projects Is Allowed – Lai Mohammed

TP Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said there was nothing wrong in borrowing to fund government projects.

Mohammed made this known on Saturday, during an inspection tour of ongoing railway projects alongside Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi .

He said, “There is no better way to answer Nigerians on what we have done with the money we borrowed than this trip.

“We did not borrow money for overhead expenditures. We borrowed money for roads, bridges, power- generally infrastructure.

Urging the press to better enlighten Nigerians, he added, “There is nothing bad in borrowing, provided that borrowing is invested in infrastructure. There is nothing bad in borrowing if it will create jobs for the economy.

“I am very excited not because I am Minister but when I got into the train this morning, I noticed that it is as clean and modern as any coach in the world.”

On his part Amaechi told journalists that Nigerians should wait till January to see the progress. At the different stations, he kept urging the CCECC to hasten up the project.

He noted that COVID-19 really hampered the delivery of the project which was initially scheduled for the middle of the year.

The Minister said there was enough money for the project despite the global pandemic. He urged the Senate to let him get the loan for the Ibadan-Kano project which cost $5.3bn.

Director Rail, Transport Services, Muhammad T. Babakobi in a seperate interview revealed that the project was conceived in 2006 and it is currently being reinvigorated by the current administration of President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)

He said, “This particular project is a double track line. It is 162km which originated from Apapa down to Ibadan. It has 9 passenger stations. A few weeks ago, it was named after distinguished Nigerians.”

He added, “The project is to have finished but the outbreak of the pandemic made us to extend the time. Rather than ending it in May, June, we are looking at December or early in the year.

“The pandemic has really slowed us down. We have had to reduce the number of workers to control them and accommodate them for workplace distance.”

Babakobi who gave more details about the capacity of the Ebute-Meta station said it was capable of holding 6,000 passengers while the other minor stations would do between 1,500- 2,000 passengers.

Making an exception for Ibadan and Abeokuta, he said the station in Ibadan and Abeokuta would do close to 3,000 passengers.

The inspection train moved from Ebute-Meta to Apapa to stations along the corridor are Apapa, EBJ, Agege, Agbado, Kajola, Papalanto, Abeokuta, Olodo, Omi-Adio and Ibadan.