By Bode Olagoke Abuja Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has said that the federal government will not abandon the plan to borrow the sum of N2 trillion to fi nance this year’s Budget despite Nigeria’s local and foreign debt currently standing at N19 trillion. Udoma, however, said the country did not have debt, but revenue problem, adding that eff orts were in top gear to increase the revenue through taxation. Speaking to newsmen after appearing before the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, Udoma insisted that the federal government was not committing any economic blunder by borrowing to fi nance this year’s budget.
“Every country borrows and the level of borrowing in Nigeria is not excessive at all. Th e federal government is going to borrow about N2 trillion to fi nance the 2017 budget. “Our debt currently is about N19 trillion which is less than 20 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is quite moderate. So, we don’t have a debt problem, what we have is a revenue problem and that is why we are taking steps to increase our revenue,” he said. While responding to allegations that the National Assembly imported certain items into the 2017 budget, the minister said: “Firstly, let me say that such issue was not part of the things we discussed during the meeting.
“However, what I can say on that issue is that we have had continuous engagement with the National Assembly. Maybe I should also explain that as the Minister of Budget and National Planning, my role is to seek approval of the President’s agenda at the National Assembly. “We have engaged them to talk on the approval for the President’s agenda and the more the percentage that we can get approved, the more successful has been the eff orts. Th e discussion and engagement with the National Assembly is a continuing one,” he noted.
