Economist tasks Federal Government on cheaper ways of financing budgets

Nigeria’s consistent reliance on loans with interests, especially from the international market has been identified as a major reason for the poor state of the nation’s economy.

Director of International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance, Bayero University, Kano State, Prof. Binta Tijjani Jibril, who made the assertion, urged the Federal government to seek cheaper and effective ways of sourcing funds to finance its budgets instead of relying on interest-based foreign and domestic loans.

Jibril, a professor of economics stated this at the closing ceremony of a three-day training on “Financing Start-ups and SMEs Using Islamic Products,” at the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

The programme was organised by Al-Hayat Relief Foundation to train over 150 entrepreneurs from Kwara, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Lagos states on ways to benefit from Islamic financing to grow their businesses.

Jibril, who was one of the facilitators at the programme, lamented that despite the debt waiver by the Paris Club a few years ago, Nigeria still wallows in huge debts, describing the situation as unfortunate.