The Nigerian senate has dispelled reports that a fresh N850 billion loan request made by the president was approved during a special plenary session on Tuesday.
It will be recalled that several news platforms reported that the president’s request to source for a fresh N850 billion loan from the domestic capital market was approved by the senate. However, on Thursday, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate committee on media and public affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, disclosed that no such approval was issued.
In a statement titled: “No Fresh Loan of N850bn Approved by the Senate”, Bashiru wrote;
“It is very important to make a very important clarification particularly as 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.”. the statement read in part.
“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,” he wrote.
