Senate approves Buhari’s fresh $8.325b, €490m external loans request

The Senate has approved the $8.3 billion (N8,325,536,537) loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The lawmakers also approved a separate €490 million loan request by the president.

Both loans were approved under the 2018 – 2020 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan.

The fund was approved on Thursday, July 15, after the Senate considered the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts. Chairman of the committee, Clifford Ordia, presented the report.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in May, asked the National Assembly to approve the loan.

The approval of the loan, he said, would enable projects listed under the 2018-2020 External Borrowing Plan to be financed through sovereign loans from the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), French Development Agency (AFD), Islamic Development Bank, China EXIMBank, China Development Bank, European Investment Bank, European ECA, KfW, lPEX, AFC, India EximBank and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

In his presentation, Mr Ordia noted that the projects are geared towards the realisation of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan that cut across key sectors such as Infrastructure, Health, Agriculture and Food Security, Energy, Education and Human Capital Development and COVID 19 Response efforts in the six geo-political zones of the country.

The Senate adopted the committee’s report and approved the loan thereafter.