Nigerian politician Adamu Garba has urged the federal government to redirect borrowing away from short-term consumption towards large-scale infrastructure, warning that wasteful debt spending risks deepening the country’s economic woes.

In a post on X, Garba argued that loans should be tied strictly to projects capable of transforming productivity and trade. He listed ten initiatives that, in his view, represent the “core economic nodes of Nigeria,” including dredging the River Niger and River Benue, revitalising Lake Chad, completing the Mambila Hydropower Project and the Abuja–Kaduna–Kano gas pipeline, and developing ports in Baro, Onitsha, Ilaje and Badagry.

He also called for completing the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Road, building a superhighway linking Lagos, Calabar, Maiduguri and Sokoto, and establishing a nationwide high-speed rail network connecting Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“These projects would connect North to South, East to West, ensuring a free flow of goods and services to tackle inflation and boost economic productivity,” he said. “The real potential of Nigeria is not in finite resources like oil or gas, but in our capacity to produce, trade, move and consume value.”

Garba criticised the government’s reliance on loans for what he described as consumable, linearly repeatable ventures such as school feeding programmes, amnesty schemes, vehicle procurement, and interventions for internally displaced persons.

While acknowledging their social importance, he warned they offered little long-term return and locked Nigeria into an endless process of borrowing for short-term gains.

“Borrowing is not a bad deal,” Garba said. “But if we must borrow, then we must do so for core infrastructure and strategic projects.”