A Financial expert, Dr. Samuel Nzekwe, has advised the Federal Government to make efforts to monitor and effectively use borrowed funds to achieve the purposes they were meant for.
Nzekwe, also a former President of Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota, Ogun State on Wednesday.
He spoke in reaction to the Federal Government’s proposed plan of borrowing 22.7 billion dollars to bridge infrastructure gap in the country.
Nzekwe said that the advice became necessary to avoid a situation where most of the borrowed funds will end up in individuals’ pocket.
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“It has been observed in the past years that some capital projects were characterised by padding, over invoicing and poor quality of jobs,’’ he said.
The former ANAN boss noted that there was nothing bad in borrowing, if only the fund was used to finance infrastructure gap in the country.
Nzekwe said the Federal Government needed to borrow the amount to bridge the infrastructure gap in the country, thus creating the enabling environment for the productive sector to thrive.
The Accountant said that the development would make the sector to produce more goods and services that would give capacity to the country to pay off some of its debts and to attract new investors into the country.
Nzekwe also stressed the need for better infrastructure development to be provided for the country to benefit from African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) signed by the Federal Government.
He urged government to build local contents for Nigerians to contribute human and material inputs whenever contracts are awarded to foreigners. (NAN)