$12bn cash payment to service foreign debt in 2005, a wrong move - Fashola condemns Obasanjo

A former governor of Lagos state and Nigeria’s Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, has condemned the decision of 2005 Olusegun Obasanjo led government to pay $12 billion in cash to Nigeria’s creditors, out of the $30 billion sovereign debt in 2005.

According to Fashola as at the time tackling infrastructure was the more smarter move and he would have vehemently opposed the action if he was a member of the Federal Executive Council then. He argued that such a huge chunk of cash was better channelled into strategic investment in infrastructure, which would have been used to repay the debt later on.

Fashola, who spoke at a town hall meeting organised by Business Hallmark themed; “Nigeria’s infrastructure revolution; Road to a New Future”, maintained that tackling infrastructure decay was a higher priority than the repayment of the nation’s debt when the decision was taken.