Nigeria is now a debtor and beggar nation - Shehu Sani alleges
- Shehu Sani has reacted to the Nigerian Senate's accelerated approval for the president's loan request
- The former lawmaker alleged that Nigeria has now arrived at the status of a debtor and a beggar nation described by Sani Abacha
- Recall that the Nigerian Senate recently resolved to grant President Buhari's N850 billion loan request an accelerated approval
A former senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, on Wednesday, April 29, alleged that Nigeria has now become a debtor and a beggar nation.
Sani, on his official Twitter page @ShehuSani recalled a coup speech by the late dictator Sani Abacha back in December 1983 where he said the country had become a debtor.
The former federal lawmaker, however, noted Abacha at that time was wrong but it is now Nigeria just arrived at the status of a debtor and beggar nation.
"In the Coup speech that overthrew President Shagari’s Government in December 1983, we heard Gen Sani Abacha proclaimed that “We have become a debtor and a beggar nation”, Comparatively he was wrong, It’s now that we have just arriveth at that status," Sani tweeted.
Sani's statement is coming several hours after the Senate resolved to give an accelerated approval to President Muhammadu Buhari’s request to raise a fresh loan of N850 billion from the domestic capital market to fund projects in the 2020 budget.
President Buhari's request was contained in a presidential memo read by the president of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, April 28.
After the letter was read, the lawmakers gave accelerated approval to the president’s request to raise the loan.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the federal government of Nigeria has been forced to slash the 2020 budget by N312 billion following the crash of crude oil prices in the global market due to coronavirus.
The 2020 budget has now been cut from the initial N10,594,362,364,80 to N10,276,887,197,728, The Nation reports. However, this decision by the executive arm of the federal government is subject to the approval of the legislature.
In a related development, the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the sum of $3.4billion to support Nigeria’s COVID-19 fight. The grant to Nigeria is the highest so far to any member country.
The grant called Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) is granted to member countries that are not under an IMF programme. The news was announced on Twitter by a former African Development Bank Former AfDB Lead Economist on Nigeria, Barbara Barungi.
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Source: Legit.ng