By Tanko Mohammed
At the resumption of Nigerian senate on Tuesday, the upper chamber considered and approved the US$2.8 billion loan request of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The President had in a letter to the senate explained that the loan would be raised from domestic capital market to fund the budget of 2020 which ran into the mud due to the glut in oil market and the menace of COVID-19.
Senate also mandated its Finance and Appropriation Committees to liaise with the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, to obtain more details of the loan request.
In considering the request, the Senate suspended its Order 1 Rule 1 of the its Standing Orders and expressly approved that the President should go ahead and borrow the money.
The Senate also urged the executive to fast track the submission of the revised Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) and the 2020 Appropriation Act to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.
The Senate also urged the Federal Government to appropriate at least 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a stimulus package for investment into Health and Education infrastructures; Agricultural value chains; Solid mineral value chains; Renewable sources of energy; Petroleum industry value chain; Research, Science and Technology.
