The Senate on Saturday approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to borrow $ 7.8 billion and €100 million from multilateral lenders.
This followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt during the plenary in Abuja.
The latest request was part of the Federal Government’s 2022 – 2024 borrowing plan.
Tinubu had in a letter to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on May 15, 2023. approved the loan facility to finance health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, insecurity, and other sectors.
He said the loan was needed to bridge the financial gap and restore the country’s economy on the path of progress.
The loan, according to Tinubu, will be deployed on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, security, and employment, among others.
The Senate also approved the president’s request on the outstanding N7.3 trillion Ways and Means advances to the federal government.
Tinubu had in a letter addressed to the Senate on Saturday asked the Red Chamber to approve the securitisation of the ways and means advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The ways and means allow the government to take from the apex bank short-term or emergency loans to fund delayed projects or address immediate cash needs.
