Wednesday, 7th July 2021: The Senate on Wednesday approved the $6.1 billion loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The $6.1 billion loan request, which is equivalent to about N2.343 trillion, was approved after the Senate considered the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts.

The Chairman of the committee, Clifford Ordia, presented the report.

Buhari had, in May, asked the National Assembly to approve the loan.

The loan, he said, will be raised from multilateral and bilateral tenders as well as the international capital market.

He also disclosed that the National Assembly already approved the borrowing of N4.6 trillion in the 2021 Appropriation Act. And that the new borrowing of N2.3 trillion will part-finance the deficit in the 2021 budget.

In his presentation, Mr Ordia said the request is not new as it was approved in the borrowing plan when the national assembly passed the 2021 budget.

“What we are about to pass is not a new borrowing, it has been approved in the 2021 budget,” he said.

After the approval, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said the National Assembly must make sure that there are no frivolous expenditures by the executive.