Nigeria’s Senate on Thursday approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to borrow $22.7 billion from external creditors to finance infrastructure projects.
The lawmakers after a closed-door session, which lasted about 45 minutes, approved the two-item recommendation of the Committee on Local and Foreign Loans, chaired by Senator Clifford Ordia. The Senate examined the report of the Ordia-led committee on local and foreign loans which considered the 2016-2018 Federal Government External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan presented to the Senators.
The rolling plan contained the $22.7 billion loan request to fund some specific on-going projects across the country and was considered and approved at the Executive session of the Senate.
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who spoke after the closed-door session, stated that the upper chamber will ensure that the approved loan was used specifically for the execution of the projects listed against the loan request.
The loan will be expected from the Islamic Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the World Bank and creditors in China, Japan and Germany.
Lawan said that the loan would be spent on projects that would have an impact on the lives of Nigerians. He also challenged the various committees of the red chamber to ensure strict oversight so that every dollar in the loan would be accounted for.
