Senate to Hold Public Hearing on Buhari’s $29bn Loan Request
POLITICS DIGEST – The Senate has said it will conduct public hearing to have the stakeholders’ opinion on the foreign loan request of $29.96bn by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The 8th National Assembly had rejected the President’s proposed borrowing because the itwas not accompanied by expenditure details.
Buhari presented the request again to the 9th National Assembly for its reconsideration and approval in November 2019.
The President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, had assured the President that his request would be granted, even when the legislative protocol had not been carried out on it.
Lawan’s position did not go down well with members of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Loans, who had been asked to scrutinise the documents and advise the Senate on the next step to take.
Feelers from some members, who last year had spoken on condition of anonymity, showed that they were no longer interested in the approval process.
Some of the lawmakers who spoke cited Lawan’s statement at a news conference last year that the Senate would approve the bill.
Further findings indicated that the committee, which has Senator Clifford Ordia as chairman and Senator Bima Enagi as vice-chairman, may not hold a public hearing on the loan request.
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A member of the panel, who spoke with on condition of anonymity, had said there was an instruction from the Senate leadership not to hold a public hearing.
But the Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Adeola, in an interview on Saturday in Abuja, said the red chamber would hold a public hearing on Buhari’s request.
Adeola, however, stated that the Senator Bukola Saraki-led 8th Senate had approved part of the loan request for Buhari’s regime.
He said, “The Federal Government is not asking the National Assembly to approve the sum of $29.96bn loan. This is because in the last Senate, about $6bn had been approved for President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow out of the $29.96bn.
“It is the balance of that figure that the government is asking us to approve for it in the borrowing plan, which is about $22.6bn.
“The Senate Committee on Foreign Loans will organise a public hearing on the issue if need be. In the alternative, we will engage the various agencies of the government to give them a clearer view of how the money would be utilised.”
The senator added that all the loans being requested would be attached to the execution of
“five legacy projects” under the Buhari regime, including the Second Niger Bridge, the East-West Road, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Mambila Power project, and the Kaduna-Abuja Highway.
He added, “The approval of the loan will afford the government an opportunity to achieve the completion of the projects before the end of Buhari’s administration.”
According to him, the borrowing plan will assist the government to fulfil its promise to Nigerians within four years.
