Fashola blasts “backyard economists” who criticize the Buhari administration

Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has referred Nigerian experts who criticize the economy under President Muhammadu Buhari as “backyard economists.” 

The minister made the remarks during a keynote address he delivered at the Lagos Business School on Tuesday, September 24, 2019, according to Punch.

“Today, the government is constructing roads in every state of Nigeria and while revenues are a challenge to prompt completion, some ‘experts’ who have not successfully shown they can run a small business, moan the loudest about Nigeria’s borrowing to fund infrastructure investment,” Fashola was quoted as saying, as he traced the nexus between government policies and the economy. 

“A Nigerian has borrowed billions of dollars to build a refinery, petrochemical plant, fertiliser plant and gas processing plant, yet some backyard economists complain that a country whose population is in the hundreds of millions is borrowing too much to fix rail, roads, ports (air and sea) and power,” he added.