President Muhammadu Buhari has sought the approval of the Senate for an external loan of 6.183 billion dollars, to fund the deficit of N5.602triillon in 2021 Appropriation Act.
This is contained in a letter addressed to the President of Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan and read at plenary on Tuesday.
Buhari said the request was in line with the provisions of section 21(1) and 27(1) of the Debt Management Office (DMO) Establishment Act 2003.
He said the loan would be sourced from a combination of multilateral and bilateral lenders and International Capital Market (ICM) through issuance of Euro bonds.
Buhari said accessing the ICM would be relatively cheaper, thereby moderating debt service cost and ensuring increase in external reserve.
The request was made as Nigeria received the 4.2 million Pounds the British Government recovered from family members and associates of former Delta Governor, James Ibori.
This is contained in a statement issued by Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami’s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr Umar Gwandu on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the amount has been credited into the designated Government account with naira equivalent value of the amount as at May 10.
The Minister had signed Memorandum of Understanding for the repatriation of the Ibori loot on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria with the UK.
The development, according to Malami, was a demonstration of the recognition of the reputation Nigeria earned through records of management of recovered Nigeria’s stolen funds in the execution of public oriented projects.
•Pieced together from NAN reports.
