On Wednesday, the Senate approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to borrow $500 million for his administration’s mass metering project. The funds will be used to purchase prepaid electricity meters for Nigerian households.
Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin conveyed the approval of the request, citing the recommendation of the committee on local and foreign debt as the basis for the decision.
Haruna Manu, the Vice Chairman of the committee, mentioned that the loan contract’s terms were advantageous, ensuring that the nation’s economic growth would not be hindered or slowed down by the debt.
The loan should have been approved earlier, Mr. Manu noted, had it not been for the Bureau of Public Enterprises’ delays in presenting the project for Senate scrutiny.
“The committee recommends that the Senate approve the ongoing negotiations of the external borrowing in the sum of $500m for BPE; that the perforations of the loan from the funding agency be forwarded to the National Assembly before execution,” Mr Manu said on Wednesday.
The $500 million falls under the nation’s 2022-2024 external borrowing plan including the $7.94 billion World Bank loan and €100 million that Mr Tinubu sought approval to obtain in November 2023.
But the Senate slashed about $540 million from the request, approving $7.4 billion on December 30, 2023.
