National Assembly Set to Approve Fresh N1.15 trillion Loan for President Tinubu
Amidst Nigeria’s rising debt, President Bola Tinubu has written to the National Assembly seeking approval to borrow N1.15 trillion from the domestic to fund 2025 budget deficit.
According to a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Sen Godswill Akpabio is yet another request for loan which has become a recurrent decimal in the last two years.
Part of the letter which was read on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday revealed that the latest borrowing is intended to “bridge the funding gap and ensure the full implementation of government programmes and projects” as contained in the 2025 national budget.
The latest loan request has been referred to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt with the mandate to report back to the Senate within one week.
Earlier, the Senate had one week ago approved another request of the president to borrow $2.847bn from external creditors which includes a $500m Sovereign Sukuk which the government says will be deployed to also finance 2025 budget deficit.
The $2.347bn according to the Senate would be sourced from the international capital market, while the remaining $500m would come from Sukuk bonds to fund key infrastructure projects nationwide.
With the one -week timeline given to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt to conclude further legislative scrutiny on the new loan request, the Senate is set to approve the request. Since June 2023 when the 10th National Assembly resumed, neither of the two chambers has stopped any of the many loan request from President Bola Tinubu.
FACTSHEET checks revealed that President Tinubu has also written to the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon Abbas Tajudeen intimating the House of the loan request.
