Senate approves Buhari's $8.3 billion, €490 million external loan request

President Muhammadu Buhari's $8.3 billion (N8,325,536,537) loan request has been approved by the Senate.

It also approved a separate €490 million loan request by the president.

The total figure is part of the 2018 – 2020 external borrowing (rolling) plan of the federal government, according to Premium Times.

This fund was approved after the Senate considered the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts on Thursday, July 15, 2021.

The report was presented by the Chairman of the committee, Clifford Ordia.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in May, asked the National Assembly to approve the loan.

The approval of the loan, he said, 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), according to Premium Times.

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.

The funding agencies are:

World Bank – $796 million

China EXIMBank – $2.9 billion

Industrial Commercial Bank of China – $2.4 billion.

African Development Bank (AfDB) – $104 million.

Africa Growing Together Bank – $20 million

French Development Agency (AFD) – €240 million

European Investment Bank – €250 million

European ECA, KfW, lPEX, AFC – $1.95 billion

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – $60 million

The Senate adopted the committee’s report and approved the loan thereafter.