Senate explains how Buhari loan request amounts to $29.96bn

The Nigerian Senate has clarified that loan request presented by President Muhammadu Buhari-led government before the National Assembly was $22.6 billion and not the $29.96 billion as is being debated in the public domain.

The clarification was made by the chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola, who added that the external loan is tied to the conclusion of critical projects like the Second Niger Bridge, the East-West Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Mambila Power project and the Kaduna-Abuja Highway.

Adeola, who spoke with reporters in Abuja at the weekend, also said that the Senate was going to investigate losses in the name of under-recoveries allegedly being incurred by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the importation of fuel.

He said the external loan request amounted to about $22.6 billion because already, the 8th National Assembly approved about $6 billion of the $29.96 billion loan requested by the government.

“The federal government is not asking the National Assembly to approve the sum of $29.96 billion loan for it. “This is because in the last Senate, about $6 billion had been approved for President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow out of the $29.96 billion.

“It is the balance of that figure that the government is asking us to approve for it in the borrowing plan, which is about $22.6 billion.

“The Senate Committee on Finance will organise a public hearing on the issue if need be,” Adeola said.

According to him, the Senate also has the alternative of engaging the various agencies of the government to explain in clear terms how the money would be utilised.

“We are not going to approve any loan plan that is not attached to project execution because that is the only way we can monitor the development and the proper utilisation of the money,” he said, adding: “The Buhari administration has five legacy projects, which it planned to spend the money on. They include the Second Niger Bridge, the East-West Road, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the Mambila Power project and the Kaduna-Abuja Highway,” he said.

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Senator Adeola further said that the approval of the loan would help the current administration complete the projects before the end of its tenure and would also help the government to fulfill its promise to Nigerians.

He said, “So, the loan would be taken in tranches. For instance, what the government desire to borrow in 2020, would be requested in 2020.

“That is why it is called a plan. The Senate will monitor its utilisation as soon as they are coming in.”

 

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