President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday asked the senate to approve a new borrowing plan of $7,864,508,559 which was approved by the Federal Executive Council under the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari
In a letter which was addressed to the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, which he read on the floor of the Senate, Tinubu asked the senate to be aware that the past administration approved the 2022 – 2024 borrowing plan at the federal executive council which was held on the 15th day of May 2023.
In the letter, Tinubu explained that the projects in the borrowing plan cut across all sectors with specific emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, security and employment as well as financial management reforms, among others.
“The total facility of the projects and programmes under the borrowing plan is $7,864,508,559 dollars and then in Euro, 100 million euros respectively.
“The senate is invited to note that following the removal of fuel subsidy and its impact on the economy in the country, African Development Bank (AFDB) and the World Bank Group (WBG) have indicated interest to assist the country in mitigating the economic shores and recent reforms with a sum of $1 billion and $2 billion respectively.
“In addition to the Federal Executive Council approved 2022-2024 external borrowing plan. Consequently, the required approval is in the sum of $7,864,508,559 dollars and in terms of euro, 1000 million euros.
According to the letter, the projects and programmes borrowing plans were selected based on positive technical economic evaluations as well as the expected contribution to the social economic cevelopment of the country, including employment generation, skills acquisitions , supporting the emergence of more enterprenuers, poverty reduction and food security to improve the livelihood of an average Nigerian.
“The projects and programmes will be implemented in all the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital territory . “In view of the present economic realities facing the country, it has become imperative that the resolve to using the external borrowing to bridge the financing gap which will be applied to key infrastructure projects including power, railway , health among others.
“Given the nature of this facilities and the need to consolidate the country to normalcy, it has become exigent to request the senate consideration and approval of the 2022- 2024 external borrowing plans to enable the government deliver its responsibilities to Nigerians through expeditious disbursement and efficient projects implementation.”
The senate Preaident referred the request to the senate committee on Appropriation, Budget and National Planing and committee on Forwign and Local Debts