President Bola Tinubu has asked the national assembly to approve a supplementary external borrowing plan of $20.52 billion and €1.04 billion for projects and programmes across several sectors.
Tinubu’s request was conveyed in a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary on Tuesday.
In the letter, the president said the proposed borrowing would support infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare, education, water supply, security, employment generation and financial management reforms.
He said the plan was designed to accelerate economic growth and address the country’s infrastructure funding gap.
“The total facility for the projects and programmes under the borrowing rolling plan is 20 billion 517 million US dollars and 1 billion 45 million eighty-three thousand six hundred and forty-three euros respectively,” the letter reads.
Tinubu said the projects were selected following technical and economic evaluations, with consideration given to their expected contributions to Nigeria’s socio-economic development.
He added that the initiatives were intended to create jobs, promote skills acquisition, encourage entrepreneurship, reduce poverty and improve food security.
The president said most of the projects and programmes would be implemented across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“In light of the need for significant infrastructure investment in the country and the vast financial resources needed to address this gap, it has become essential to pursue prudent external borrowings to close the financing shortfall,” he said.
“It has become essential to pursue prudent external borrowings to close the financing shortfall. These funds will primarily be directed towards critical infrastructure projects in various sectors including power, transportation and healthcare, amongst others.”
Akpabio said aspects of the borrowing plan had previously been considered in the budget and that an external borrowing plan had also received approval in an earlier period.
He said the new request would be examined by the senate committee on local and foreign debts in collaboration with the committees on appropriation and finance.
The committees are expected to report back to the senate within one week.
Akpabio said the review would determine the next steps regarding the president’s request.