Nigeria to pay $4b extra to service debts if senate blocks loan restructuring, Buhari warns

If the Senate continue with its resolve to block the plan to restructure government loans from the Central Bank, the country will be made to pay an extra $4 billion to service its debt, President Muhammadu Buhari told the senate during a meeting on Tuesday.

“Failure to grant the securitization approval will however cost the government about 1.8 trillion naira in additional interest in 2023,” the President added, according to an emailed statement from his spokesman, Femi Adesina to Bloomberg International.

There was uproar in the Senate last week over President Muhammadu Buhari request for approval of restructuring of N22.7trillion Ways and Means advances given the federal government by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 
The lawmakers raised objections while considering the report of the Committee on Finance for Approval of restructuring of N22.7trillion Ways and Means advances collected by the Federal Government from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) within the last ten years.

President Buhari had in a letter read on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday last week, sought for restructuring of the N22.7trillion Ways and Means advances collected from CBN within the last ten years in addition to N1trillion to be collected as fresh domestic loan.
Buhari in the letter said Ways and Means are advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria to the federal government for emergency funding of delayed receipt of fiscal deficits

The President in the request said, “The ways and means advances by the Central Bank of Nigeria, to the federal government has been a funding option for the federal government to cater for short term or emergency finance to fund delayed government expected cash receipt of physical deficit.