Senate To Approve Buhari’s $29.96Bn Loan Request

Daniel Ojukwu

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has confirmed that the house would approve the $29.96 billion loan request of President Muhammadu Buhari.

This brings to an end speculations which have suggested that the Senate would reject it (the budget) as it did in 2016 when it was first submitted.

Lawan, addressing pressmen in Abuja, assured that the money would be used judiciously.

He said, “The question of whether we will pass (approve) the loan request of the Executive arm of Government, yes, we will pass it. If we don’t have money and you have projects to build them, how will you provide infrastructure that you need?

“But one thing is that, we are going to be critical that every cent that is borrowed is tied to a project.

“These are projects that will have spillover effects on the economy and we will undertake our oversight so well to ensure that such funds are properly, prudently, economically and transparently are applied on those projects.”

Commenting on its earlier rejection in 2016, Lawan said, “In 2016, the Senate did not pass the loan request of the Executive at that time and the reason was because there were no sufficient details.

“I want to inform this gathering and indeed Nigerians that the letter conveying the loan request of the Executive came with every possible detail and in fact we will ensure that we are getting the right information from the Executive arm of Government. So, the situation is not the same.

“In 2016, there were no submission of details. This time, I think the Executive has learnt its lesson and the letter came with sufficient details.

“Nothing will really militate against the passage (of the bill) but we are going to be critical so that every borrowed (amount) is tied to a project.

“These are projects that will have spill over effects on the economy and we will undertake our oversight to ensure such money is effectively efficiently prudently applied on those projects.”