With the increase in borrowing, the country now spends almost all of its revenue servicing debts.
President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that his administration has used money borrowed to build infrastructure that would enhance sustainable growth in the country.
The President made this known in an interactive session with Bloomberg while responding to the questions on why there has been a sharp rise in the country's borrowing.
With the increase in borrowing, the country now spends almost all of its revenue servicing debts.
In his response, Buhari said, "A narrow focus on debt misses the point. What it fills is Nigeria’s longstanding infrastructure deficit by constructing a foundation for sustainable growth - spreading opportunity to ensure no part of the country is left behind, which has led to insecurity in the past.
"Our infrastructure developments have been the most ambitious since Nigeria’s independence. Over 800 federal roads are being constructed or undergoing rehabilitation and 650km of rail line have been laid, helping alleviate food inflation pressures, given most food is produced in the north.”
"Had the infrastructure gap not been filled it will only grow, become more costly to repair what little we have while lacking more on infrastructure on which to build growth, negatively impacting progress towards UN Sustainable Development Goals," Buhari added.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that President Buhari signed the 2022 Amended Appropriation Act, to service Nigeria's debts with N3 trillion.
This was stated by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives) Umar El-Yakub.
Umar said the amended Appropriation Act will repeal the previous one passed by the lawmakers in December 2021.
An appropriation, also known as a supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that authorises the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending.
According to him, the new law will authorise the issuing of the total sum of N17,319,704,091,019 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
Out of this, N817,699,410,210 only, is for Statutory Transfers, while N3,978,087,110,437 only will be for Debt Service.
Also, N7,108,621,131,849 only is for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure while the sum of N5,415,296,438,523 would be for Contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the Year Ending on December 31, 2022.