President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday said that the borrowing envisaged in the 2025 budget was targeted at providing critical infrastructure.
The President, in his maiden media chat, said the country had a serious infrastructure shortage.
“We have to put money on the long-term matching projects, we don’t have the short-term funds to manage long-term projects. It’s mismatch.
“That’s why we have headed in the wrong road in the past. I want to think about prosperity. I want to think about tomorrow, today,” he said.
Tinubu said the borrowing was meant to address capital projects such as roads, which were terrible.
“Our internet is not up to the level that we want as a technology-driven nation. We are still deficient in power generation. We need a very strong push.
“It’s like a pregnant woman. New expectations and new contractions and labour pains. You go through it, the baby is born. You are happy.
“If that baby is alive, you have the joy, and that is what we are working on. It’s not just because we want to inflict pain on anybody,” the President said.
He said his administration shared the same value with Nigerians.
“We want this country to grow. There is no other way out of it; we must invest in our prosperity today,” Tinubu said.