The 22.7 billion dollars loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari has been approved by the House of Representatives.
The request was approved by the House on Tuesday during plenary after it considered the report of its committee on aids, loans and debt management.
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President Buhari had in 2019 said that the loan was intended to fund key infrastructure in the country.
The Senate had earlier agreed to the request in March with lawmakers at the green chamber earlier kicking against the bill, thereby forcing debates on the loan to be suspended.
The lawmakers, especially those of the South-East caucus, complained about the government’s failure to include projects in the region amongst those to be financed from the loan.
Following debates that were accompanied by pleas from House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, however, the loan proposal has now been approved.
The Houses and Senate in April, approved an ₦850 billion loan proposal from the president, which is to be sourced from domestic markets “to fund critical capital projects in the 2020 budget.”
President Buhari also wrote to both chambers, seeking the approval of another $5.513 billion foreign loans.
Recall that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), frowned at the approval of the loan at the upper chamber.
The PDP said it that is distressing that the APC senators approved the loan, even when the Buhari Presidency has not justified the request.
The party said in approving more financial burden on our nation, the APC senators have further shown that their party does not have the interest of Nigerians at heart, but is only out to repress and plunge our citizens into more hardship just for their selfish gains.
In the meantime, Nigeria’s rising debt profile, as of September 30, 2019, was ₦26.2 trillion. Of this amount, total domestic debt is about ₦18 trillion, or 68.45 per cent. About ₦8 trillion are owed to foreign lenders.
