President Buhari writes Senate to approve fresh loan of mere $800 million

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday wrote to the Senate asking the honorable house to approve a new loan request of $800million.

In a letter read by the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, President Buhari noted that the loan would be utilized to upgrade the National Social Safety Net Programme; which was set up by the federal government for poor Nigerians, and it would be sourced from the World Bank. The funds will be disbursed to poor households across the country when it is approved.

He also noted that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved his request for obtaining the loan, noting that he is waiting for the approval of the Senate before going ahead with processing the loan.

It would be recalled that the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, announced in April that the federal government would secure an $800 million World Bank loan to be disbursed to about 50 million vulnerable Nigerians or 10 million households as part of its subsidy palliatives measures.

She said the disbursement is in anticipation of the planned subsidy removal in June. The Debt Management Office had recently announced that the debt profile of Nigeria as of 31 December rose to N46.25 trillion or $103.1 billion.