‘No Fresh Loan of N850bn Approved by the Senate’ – Senate Clears Air

Following the information that the National Assembly has approved a fresh loan of N850 billion to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Senate has cleared on the loan.

According to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Dr. Ajibola Basiru has stated that the loan wasn’t a fresh one but an amendment of the earlier resolution of it’s source.

He further disclosed that the President requested that the approved loan should rather be raised through the Domestic Capital Market due to the pandemic and that was what was approved.

Read the statement;

‘It is very important to make a very important clarification particularly on the widely circulated erroneous report that the Senate approved a fresh loan of N850 billion at the Plenary on Tuesday.

That is far from the truth. The resolution passed was an amendment of the earlier resolution as to the source of the initial N850bn loan that had been approved to be part of what should be used to fund the 2020 Appropriation Act.’

‘You will recall that the Senate had actually approved the loan of N850 billion but to be sourced from external sources.

However, because of the covid-19 Pandemic and of the challenge in the international oil market with the attendant challenges of raising the approved loan externally, the President requested that the approved loan should rather be raised through the Domestic Capital Market.

It was the above request as to sourcing the earlier approved external borrowing of N850bn from Domestic Capital Market that was approved by the Senate.’