₦airaland Forum

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed

Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari will resubmit the request for his administration to borrow $29.96bn to the Senate despite the setback it received on the floor of the Upper Chamber on Tuesday.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

Mohammed said the administration would continue to engage the Senators on the benefits inherent in the borrowing plan.

He expressed the optimism that at the end of the day, the federal lawmakers would see reasons and approve the request.

He said, “It is not unusual for the government and the Senate to have some disagreements, they want more information.

“We will continue to engage them. We will give them all the information they need.

“We are sure that by the time we finish, they (the lawmakers) will approve the request.”

The Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, had on Tuesday said senators voted against Buhari’s request for $29.9bn foreign loan was rejected due to technical issues.

Briefing newsmen shortly after plenary, Ndume, who said that he was shocked that the request suffered such setback, expressed optimism the issues would be resolved and the request would be represented.

He said, “The problem came on a technical ground; it is supposed to go to the committee level and the committee is supposed to take a look at it.

“I am going to appeal to my colleagues to take a look at it again and see how we are going to bring it back.

“One of the technical things that were missing is that in the letter, if you read it, says: ‘attached is a draft’ but there was no attachment.

“So, these are some of the lapses that we will look at in bringing it back.

“We were thinking that there was going to be details but there was no detail of the borrowing plan.

“I believe that those will be included in the next one.”



http://punchng.com/buhari-will-resend-30bn-loan-request-senate-mohammed/

Senate should be thorough with this sort of request which carries little details regarding projects to be executed, timeline for completion, estimate number of employment to be generated, loan repayment plan, infrastructure maintenance plan etc...

The present Government has shown it cannot be trusted on competence and thoroughness

Carry go Mr President!

I know they will use efcc to threaten the senators before sending the rubbish back

This loan request is diabolical and an outright attempt to yoke Nigerians to foreign debts. Neither the President nor his aides have coherently explained to Nigerians how the loan will be repaid. I have heard a lot of noise about revamping our moribund rails and additional investment in power projects but no one has told Nigerians how these projects will generate enough revenues to pay back the loan. I was totally dismayed when I saw details of the loan request that was rightfully thrown out by the Senate. A whopping ten billion dollars had no project tied to it! Who goes a borrowing without a proper plan of what to do with the money? Only the Federal government of Nigeria.

The Senate must rise in defence of the people and generations unborn. It was only some years back that we were let loose from the strangulating hold of international creditors. We must not be too quick to travel that path once more.

The Senate should look at the loan properly

Where it's not clear questions should be asked

Where they need clarification, grey areas all

Should be looked into

If it is for the benefit of Nigerian masses

It should be signed without delay

The president should engage the senators more constructively before resending the loan request to avoid another embarrassment. This is a democracy and the president must learn how to engage the legislators to facilitate a smooth sailing of his bills.

The senate should also take a more pragmatic look at the loan request this time around. A blanket rejection of the proposal will not help us to achieve the much talked about diversification. The loan for clearly defined projects such as the Manbilla power dam, Lagos to Calabar railway project and the Lagos to Kano railway should be favourably considered and approved. Any part of the loan that is not tied to a specific and viable developmental project should be rejected.

seunmsg:
The president should engage the senators more constructively before resending the loan request to avoid another embarrassment. This is a democracy and the president must learn how to engage the legislators to facilitate a smooth sailing of his bills.
The senate should also take a more pragmatic look at the loan request this time around. A blanket rejection of the proposal will not help us to achieve the much talked about diversification. The loan for clearly defined projects such as the Manbilla power dam, Lagos to Calabar railway project and the Lagos to Kano railway should be favourably considered and approved. Any part of the loan that is not tied to a specific and viable developmental project should be rejected.

You have said it all