7th October, 2022
By Naomi Sharang
Some Nigerian senators have on Friday expressed divergent views on the N20.5 trillion Appropriation Bill for 2023.
While some said it is a bill of sustainability, others said that there were areas the Buhari administration needed to address before handing over power in 2023.
Sen. Jibrin Barau, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, said that the Buhari-led administration had done a lot in terms of infrastructure development.
“I have never seen any government that has done better than this government in terms of infrastructure development.
“I have been a participant in the budget process since 1999 when we started the new journey into democracy. There is no government in the history of Nigeria that has invested so much in infrastructure.
“The government has done very well. It has performed in a manner we need to commend it.
“All we need to do is to continue on where the government is going to stop next year.
“It’s a long journey; before you can achieve economic buoyancy, there must be an enabling environment and infrastructure is one of the fundamentals needed, and we are moving toward.
“Even though it is quite unfortunate we had a series of devastation due to flooding, this time around which is something that is applicable to all parts of the world.
“But we will continue to advise that measures should be taken in a way that we must always be proactive in dealing with such situations.
“We don’t have to wait until something occurs before we begin to look for a remedy, but we should take actions, create waterways, create drainages in a manner that even if there is too much rainfall, there won’t be too much devastation.”
On her part, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu (APC-Lagos) said that there was nothing wrong with a government borrowing as long as it would pay back.
“I will go against a government that will borrow and leaves debt for the incoming administration or the country to inherit.
“If you borrow on a very healthy threshold, there is nothing wrong with it,” she said.
NAN