National Assembly Approved $28 Billion Foreign Loans in 12 Months
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has said under his administration in the National Assembly a total sum of $28 billion foreign loans have been approved in the last 12 months.
Speaking during the 9th Senate’s second legislative year, which began on Thursday, Lawan said in order to support and enable the federal government to raise the necessary capital to fund and implement national projects, requests to borrow both from the local market and foreign market were approved.
He said, “In order to support and enable the government to raise the necessary funds for national development, there were requests for approval to borrow, both from the domestic and foreign sources.
“We have approved foreign loans of about $28bn in the last one year.
“We had ensured proper scrutiny for the desired projects and programmes of government, the conditions of the facilities before approving such borrowing requests.
“The task ahead of us is to ensure tracking, monitoring and supervision of how the loans are applied.
“We must ensure that the target projects remain, and that there is value for money also.”
Lawan added that the current drop in revenue generation due to the global health crisis has forced the nation’s lawmakers to think and devise additional sources of funding for the government.
