Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, the representative of Ondo South in the Senate, has asserted that the Federal Government (FG) must embrace borrowing as an essential measure to effectively manage the country’s economy.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Senator Ibrahim emphasized that borrowing is crucial for building critical infrastructure, which, in turn, facilitates the repayment of loans over time.
“If you don’t borrow to run the economy, what do you want to do? Where do you want to get the fund to run the economy?” queried Senator Ibrahim. He drew a parallel with Dubai, citing the example of the Emirate owing $168 billion with a population of 12 million people, yet successfully using the borrowed funds for transformative projects.
He highlighted that Nigeria, with a population of 250 million people, owes $77 million, emphasizing the necessity of borrowing for economic sustenance.
Senator Ibrahim, who chairs the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs, also defended the size of the delegation led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the ongoing COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, UAE. He justified the 422 persons funded for the event out of the total 1,411 registered Nigerian delegates, stating that this number wasn’t excessive.
“Funding (over) 400 people to a conference like this is too small. You may want to host the conference sometime in the future,” he remarked. Senator Ibrahim argued that the number of delegates contributes to knowledge sharing at the summit, crucial for a country like Nigeria grappling with the impact of environmental pollution.
He insisted that a lean delegation would undermine Nigeria’s representation and impact at the international level, asserting that the international community would not take President Tinubu seriously if he attended with a limited delegation in Dubai. Senator Ibrahim’s stance reflects the ongoing debate on the balance between the necessity of representation and the fiscal responsibility associated with official delegations.
