House of Reps approve President Buhari’s N850bn loan

Ilesanmi AdekanbiMay 12, 2020

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The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, May 12, has approved the request by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to borrow N850bn to fund the 2020 budget.

The Senate had earlier Okayed the borrowing plan amidst controversy.

The approval was however given by the House at the plenary on Tuesday within about seven minutes.

Buhari had in a letter to both the Senate and the House of Reps on Tuesday, May 5, requested that the loan, earlier approved in the 2020 appropriation act, be converted from external borrowing to local borrowing.

The Senate on May 5, after receiving the request, approved it.

But the Reps Committee on Supply, after considering its report submitted by the committee chaired by the leader of the House, Hassan Ado Dogwa gave their approval for the request.

Dogwa, during the consideration noted that the President was not making a request for a fresh loan but instead, asking that an existing loan be converted from foreign sources to local sources.

“This item is already captured in the 2020 act. It was provided in the budget. All they want is to take the facilities from local sources.

“During the leadership interface with the Finance Minister, we were assured that the rate will be favourable, and the request was agreed at the leadership meeting,” he said.

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