In 2015, N64bn was spent on travelling, only N19bn on roads – Finance Minister

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun has revealed how billions of naira was spent on travelling by public office holders in 2015 while very little attention was paid to road construction across the country.

At a meeting with Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) hosted by her counterpart in the Ministry of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Adeosun said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is working to end all fraudulent practices in the federal service.

“Last year, we spent N64 billion on travelling and only N19 billion on roads. Travelling does not grow the economy and this must also stop,” she said.

Adeosun then noted that the fiscal focus of the administration was to ensure an economic growth that would be measured on job creation and productive sectors.

“The economy is not measured by how many private jet we have but how many jobs we create
“People must be productive for the economy to grow.

“We have been a consumer economy, but we want to be productive and stop buying everything from abroad.

“We have been borrowing to pay salaries for years and that has to stop because it is not sustainable.
The minister said that the compound GDP of the country had been growing negatively in the last 10 years and the administration was working to correct the trend.

She assured that the administration would be the most discipline government the country has ever had in terms of fiscal accountability and responsibility.