Senate approves Buhari’s $22.7bn loan request

Thursday, March 05, 2020 at 2:49 PM by Onyirioha Nnamdi

- President Muhammadu Buhari's request for a loan of $22.7 billion has made headway

- The request was approved by the Senate on Thursday, March 5

- However, the decision of the red chamber came after much debate by federal lawmakers some of who were at variance with the approval

After much debate and heated reactions from Nigerians, the Senate on Thursday, March 5, approved President Muhammadu Buhari's $22.7 billion loan request.

The decision of the upper chamber, read out by Senate President Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, sparked much uproar in the house.

One of those who reacted to the approval of the request by President Buhari was Enyinnaya Abaribe, the minority leader, who was against accepting all the recommendations of the loan at once.

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that a disagreement broke out on the floor of the Nigerian Senate on Thursday, March 5, after deliberations on the $22 billion external borrowing request by President Buhari commenced.

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Clifford Ordia, the chairman of the committee who read out the report, suggested that the lawmakers approve the foreign loan request.

However, the decision to deliberate behind closed doors sparked a back and forth argument for over half an hour between lawmakers and the Senate president, Ahmed Lawan.

Abdulahi Yahaya and Abaribe of the upper chamber suggested that the report be considered part by part to allow the senators understand the details of the bill.

While the lawmakers continued to argue, the Senate president stated that the consideration will be done as he said which would be as whole and it would be put for a voice vote on the floor.

Yahaya moved that the Senate go into a closed-door session for further deliberations after minutes of silence and consultations. The senators were scheduled to come back soon and consider the loan request.

Before now, Legit.ng had reported that the president had requested the Nigerian Senate to approve a foreign loan allegedly to the tune of $30 billion to the federal government.