Senate Puts FG’s Borrowing Request at $22.6bn

The Chairman Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola, has put the federal government’s external loan request before the National Assembly at $22.6 billion and not the $29.96 billion in public domain.

Adeola also said the external loan is tied to the completion of critical projects like the Second Niger Bridge, the East-West Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Mambila Power project and the Kaduna-Abuja Highway.

He added that the Senate would investigate losses in the name of under-recoveries allegedly being incurred by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the importation of fuel.

Adeola, told reporters yesterday in Abuja that the external loan request came to about $22.6 billion because the eighth National Assembly had earlier approved part of the $29.96 billion loan request amounting to about $6 billion.

He said the approval of the loan would help the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to complete critical infrastructural projects.

He said: “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.”

He said in the alternative, the Senate would engage the various agencies of the government to give them a clearer view of how the money would be utilised, adding that all the money being requested for borrowing would be attached to the execution of specific projects.

“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.”

According to him, the approval of the loan would let the government achieve the completion of the projects before the end of its tenure.

It will also assist the government to fulfill its promise to Nigerians, he said, adding that the plan will cover the next four years.