N17 Trillion Pension Fund: We are borrowing to fund Infrastructure- Fayemi

The NGF Chairman and Ekiti state Governor Governor Kayode Fayemi said there was nothing wrong in the borrowing plan.

He made his colleagues’ position known Sunday night while featuring on Politics Sunday, a Channels Television programme, monitored in Abuja.

Fayemi said: “There is nothing wrong and we are not going to be apologetic that we want to borrow to fund infrastructure. We are not borrowing for consumption and the various projects that are going to be allowed to access these funds are going to be determined by the committee that we set up at the National Economic Council NEC.”

While insisting the governors could access the funds, the governors said there was an urgent need for the country to increase infrastructural developments, by sourcing alternative means beyond the budget

The governor who said Nigeria was not as rich as it used to be, said: “In the 2021 budget appropriation act, the ministry that has the highest allocation is the Ministry of Works and Housing with about over N400 billion, which is equivalent to less than $1 billion today.

“As we (governors) said, the way to go is to look at options that would enable us to undertake infrastructure development by accessing funding from the private sector. One such private sector funding is the pension fund which is sitting in various pension finance administrators and this money is already being borrowed by other elements.”

On the criticism and concerns that greeted the plan, the NGF said such fears were “misplaced” and not anything to be bothered about. .

The forum said: “There is also no doubt that there is a basis for a cost of governance reduction that is not in doubt. But if you want a government that you have elected into office to provide amenities that are in need by the citizens, you certainly do not expect these governors to use private funds or personal funds to do these things.

“We are going to look for creative ways to ensure that they meet the demands of the populace. And what are those ways; multilateral findings, if you have a good relationship with the World Bank, Africa Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, in terms of developing financing and another private sector borrowing

“In itself, it does not distract from fulfilling the conditions of the Fiscal Responsibility act, because the Debt Management Office will not even allow some states that are distressed to access private or external borrowing if they have gone beyond the threshold given to them as states.

“So that fear is misplaced and it is not something that we should bother ourselves with. The bottom line is that Nigeria is not the rich country we make it out to be, either at the federal level or the state level, we do not have enough resources to run the country. We are also challenged in fulfilling the promises made to the people

“Not because states don’t want to do it, not the federal government, but the resources are not necessarily there. That is why we have to look for means of making the resources available. Many of the projects that we are talking about are projects that would refer to as revenue-generating infrastructure

“Roads that could be tolled, telecom projects, infrastructure manpower, water projects. So these are things that are necessary for infrastructure for us to improve our development indices, so borrowing isn’t necessarily a bad thing in that effect.”