The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has thrown his support for external borrowing by the Federal Government to finance capital projects in the country.
The Minister stated this while delivering an address at the 2nd Annual Nigerian Mining Week on Thursday in Abuja, according to a statement by Mr Olusegun Ogunkayode, a Principal Information Officer in the ministry.
Fashola said the increase in allocation for capital projects from 15 per cent in 2016 to 30 per cent in 2017 requires loans to finance the projects.
He said the idea was to facilitate the development of critical infrastructure in fulfillment of the Federal Government campaign promises.
The minister commended stakeholders in the mining sector for the amazing milestones recorded, saying that very little could be achieved in the power industry without inputs from the sector.
“As we roll out transmission stations, we install transformers, the steel casing and copper winding inside it stem from the operations of the mining industry,” minister said.
The statement also quoted the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi as commending the organisers of the Nigerian Mining Week.
He said the event would provide a networking platform and learning turf for existing businesses in the sector.
Fayemi said that a recent World Risk Report published by the Mining Journal indicated that Nigeria had made remarkable improvements in both hard and perceived risk factors.
“The Nigerian mining jurisdiction is now considered to have a better investment risk profile than Russia, China, India and several other leading jurisdictions,” Fayemi said.
