The 9th Senate Leadership, has on Thursday, said that it did not approve a “fresh loan of N850 billion” for President Muhammadu Buhari, during its Special Plenary session, on Tuesday.
The new Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, in a statement in Abuja, said that what the Senate did, was simply to pass a resolution to vary the terms of the approval it earlier gave for the loan request.
Basiru noted that the Senate approved that the N850 billion loan, be now sourced from the domestic capital market, as against from external sources.
The statement titled: “No Fresh Loan of N850 billion Approved by the Senate”, reads: It is very important to make a very important clarification, particularly as the widely circulated erroneous report that the Senate approved a fresh loan of N850 billion, at the plenary on Tuesday.
“That is far from the truth. The resolution passed was an amendment of the earlier resolution as to the source of the initial N850 billion loan that had been approved, to be part of what should be used to fund the 2020 Appropriation Act.
“You will recall that the Senate had actually approved the loan of N850 billion, but to be sourced from external sources.
“However, because of the Covid-19 Pandemic and of the challenge in the international oil market with the attendant challenges of raising the approved loan externally, the President requested that the approved loan should rather be raised through the Domestic Capital Market.
“It was the above request as to sourcing the earlier approved external borrowing of N850 billion from Domestic Capital Market, that was approved by the Senate.”
