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Nigeria needs $29. 9b to revive economy, pay contractors, says Odigie-Oyegun

By Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja
06 December 2016   |   6:52 am
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that President Muhammadu Buhari plans to spend the $29.9 billion, he wants to borrow, on reviving the comatose economy ...
John Odigie Oyegun, APC National Chairman

John Odigie Oyegun, APC National Chairman

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that President Muhammadu Buhari plans to spend the $29.9 billion, he wants to borrow, on reviving the comatose economy and paying contractors, some of who are being owed for up to 10 years.

APC’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said Sunday night that the President did not plan to spend the money on trivialities, noting that the loan would not be used to pay salaries, but to develop infrastructure.

A statement from his office yesterday in Abuja quoted the APC’s boss as making the assertion after receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Warri Choral Society during a classical music concert the group held in his honour at the Muson Centre in Lagos.

According to Odigie-Oyegun, “If you read the newspapers, you hear the President being advised to pump money into the economy. So, the question is where is the money coming from? Simple! It has to come from somewhere, including borrowing-both internal and external. To get this country going again, you have to pay contractors. Some contractors have not been paid for four, five, six to 10 years!

“The borrowing is not to pay salaries, which the President Buhari administration will not do, but invested to create opportunities, solve electricity problems and things like that. To allow people to have money to consume, to buy goods, to pay for services, so that factories can produce. So, it is that cycle. We must kick-start the economy and to do this it will need money, lots of money,” the APC national chairman told journalists after the concert.

Odigie-Oyegun also defended the ongoing fight against corruption as necessary for the country to make progress.

“That is a task (anti-corruption) that must be accomplished because it is at the bottom of all the ills of this country. When you are corrupt, you are immoral. When you are corrupt, you don’t have ethics, when you are corrupt, you lose the distinction between right and wrong. When you are corrupt, even life does not mean anything to you. So, we must get it under serious control for this nation to have hope of making any progress,” he said.

4 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    Can somebody remind this John Oyegun that he was once a governor of Edo State and his information commissioner (Odion Ugbesia) was beaten at Ring Road, Benin City by mob when they realized that The Governor Oyegun was busy buying Exectuve Landcruiser SUVs and other extravanganza while salaries of civil servants were not paid for months, there was no recession at that time, what do you call that? Corruption!

  • Author’s gravatar

    e have begun the s4les of imp0unded items at our office in lagos some of the availables bags of rice are: Royal Umbrella=N6,500Mama Gold=N6,500Royal Stallion=N6,500Otunba=N6,500 Rising sun=N6,000Special Rice=N6,000Mama Africa=N6,500 Royal crown=N6,500Ade Brazil=N6,500Elephant Gold=N6,500Super Eagle=N6,500pjs=N6,000Tomato Rice=N6,500caprice =6,500 we deliver to anywhere in Nigeria.method of payment is on delivery transportation per bag is N1,000 our hotline is 07063495356 Royal umbrella=N6,5OO, Mama Gold=N8DELIVERY FEES MUST BEEN PAID BEFORE DELIVERY

  • Author’s gravatar

    Mr Oyegun !!!!!! who are the contractors? Can you itemize the physical concrete contracts completed by all this phony bogus contractors? May be you should just forget about this loan. Nigeria can not afford to borrow to pay contractors. That will be insane !!!!!!. All you old spent people in Nigeria trying to solve a 21st century problems with 14th century tools are the Nigerian problems. I can not blame you our youths are already compromised. We dont really know where to turn to !!!!!!

  • Author’s gravatar

    so corrupt dropping figures like educated illiterates.