The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said that Nigeria is poor and “we should not deceive ourselves”, adding that the country’s resources are limited.
He said this while briefing journalists at the State House on Thursday after a meeting with the President.
Lawan said that the government shouldn’t burden Nigerians with taxes to cover infrastructural projects, as the country was in a “serious situation”.
He said, “You cannot, in my view and judgement, tax Nigerians further for you to raise the money for infrastructural development; other countries do that, but we have serious situation across the country.
“So, you cannot put taxes on the people. The only option left is for use to borrow responsibly, utilise prudently and economically, and ensure that the projects are self-sustaining; that they can pay back the loans.”
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Lawan said that resources and revenues were depleted and that the government couldn’t sit on its hands and do nothing about the situation, adding that the country was poor.
“Our options are really very limited as a country. First, we do not have the necessary revenue; Nigeria is poor, we should not deceive ourselves. Nigeria is not rich given the circumstances we live in, given the challenges we have.
“Our resources are so low, our revenues are so low; therefore, the option of not doing anything just to sit (because we have no money, we should not go for infrastructure development) is not an option worthy of consideration. You cannot keep the economy stagnant,” he said.
