By Chioma Iruke
The Nigerian Senate has approved the loan requests of $8.3 billion (N8,325,536,537) and €490 million tendered by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The total amount is part of the 2018 – 2020 external borrowing (rolling) plan of the Federal Government.
Recall that President Buhari had in May, asked the National Assembly to approve the loan.
The fund was however approved on Thursday after the Senate considered the report of its Committee on Local and Foreign Debts.
Chairman of the Committee, Clifford Ordia, who presented the report said, the loan would enable projects listed under the 2018-2020 External Borrowing Plan to be financed through sovereign loans from the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), French Development Agency (AFD), Islamic Development Bank, China EXIMBank, China Development Bank, European Investment Bank, European ECA, KfW, lPEX, AFC, India EximBank and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
In his presentation, Mr Ordia noted that the projects are geared towards the realisation of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan that cut across key sectors such as Infrastructure, Health, Agriculture and Food Security, Energy, Education and Human Capital Development and COVID 19 Response efforts in the six geo-political zones of the country.
