Senate considers $4bn loans request by President Buhari

The Nigerian Senate has referred the request by President Muhammadu Buhari to approve $4.054bn and €710m fresh external loans to fund projects captured under the 2018-2021 borrowing plan to its committee on Local Debts and Foreign Loan for further legislative work.

The committee headed by Senator Clifford Ordia has two weeks to report back to Senate plenary

President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, referred the request after Majority Leader, Senator Abdullahi Yahaya, presented the request to the Senate for consideration, which was unanimously granted by the lawmakers.

President Buhari had on September 15, 2021, written to the Senate seeking the approval of $4.054bn and €710m fresh external loan to fund projects captured under the 2018-2021 borrowing plan.

He explained that the amount would be used to fund Federal and States Government projects cut across key sectors such as Infrastructure, Health, Agriculture and Food Security, Energy, Education and Human Capital Development, and COVID-19 Response efforts.

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Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had called on the National Assembly to reject the fresh request by President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow $4 billion and €710 million until the publication of details of spending of all loans obtained since May 29, 2015, by the government.

Other prominent Nigerians had also expressed concern about the growing debt crisis, the lack of transparency and accountability in the spending of loans that have been obtained, and the perceived unwillingness or inability of the National Assembly to vigorously exercise its constitutional duties to check the apparently indiscriminate borrowing by the government.