Nigeria

Buhari’s $30 billion loan: Senate will pass request - Lawan

Monday, December 16, 2019 at 3:29 PM by Aanu Adegun

- The Senate will pass Buhari's loan request, according to Lawan

- Buhari had presented a loan request of $29.96 billion to the Senate

- Recall that a similar request by Buhari to the 8th Senate led by Bukola Saraki was rejected

Muhammadu Buhari would finally get his wish as the Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, has given an indication that the upper chamber would pass a $29.96 billion loan request by the president.

This was disclosed by the Senate president while addressing journalists in Abuja. According to him, the Senate would approve the loan request but would ensure adequate oversight.

“We are going to be critical that every cent that is borrowed is tied to a project,” Lawan said in response to a question by a journalist, Premium Times reports.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Buhari requested the Nigerian Senate to approve a foreign loan to the tune of $30 billion to the federal government.

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The president of the Senate read Buhari's letter which contained the loan request during plenary on Thursday, November 28, Premium Times.

Also, recall that the eighth Senate led by Bukola Saraki rejected the loan request in 2016.

Though no reason was given for the rejection of the loan at the time, there had been concerns about the state of Nigeria's internal and external borrowing.

Also, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said as at June 30, Nigeria owes N25.7 trillion in debt both domestically and externally.

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The DMO said this in its ‘Total Public Debt Portfolio’ obtained from its website on Wednesday, October 15 in Abuja.

The DMO said that the current total debt stock comprised both the federal government debt, that of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).