Senate panel members may boycott $29.96bn loan request consideration

The Senate has started the process to approve the $29.96bn
foreign loan request forwarded to the National Assembly by the
President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

However, feelers from the committee on local and foreign loans
handling the assignment indicated that members were not interested
in the approval process.

Some of those who spoke with our correspondent cited a statement
credited to the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, at a news
conference recently that the Senate would approve the bill.

Although Lawan had on Tuesday asked the committee to work on the
proposal and report back to the Senate within two weeks,
investigations revealed the panel may return the proposal as
presented.

Further findings revealed that the committee, which has Senator
Clifford Ordia as chairman and Senator Bima Enagi as vice-chairman,
may not hold a public hearing on the loan request.

A member of the panel, who spoke with our correspondent on
condition of anonymity said there was an instruction from the
Senate leadership not to hold a public hearing.

He said, “Holding a public hearing on the issue would be
counterproductive because the stakeholders would come and kick
against the loan.

“We want to avoid a situation whereby the press would go to town
with reports that Nigerians have rejected the loan request and the
National Assembly would pass it the following day.

“As for me and a few of my colleagues that I have spoken with,
we are not really sure of our active participation in the
committee’s activities over the loan because it would end up as a
mere academic exercise.”

But another member of the committee, who also spoke on condition
of anonymity, said there was the need to sit and scrutinise the
document.

He said, “You know, we have the details of the projects that the
money would be spent on. They are scattered across the country.

“There is a need for us to travel to the states and discuss with
the governors. We may also need to involve the states’ legislature
in the oversight functions.

“The President of the Senate has said the parliament is more
concerned with the utilisation of the money. So, we have to carry
state government officials along.”

Similarly, a ranking senator, who is also a member of the panel,
said the committee would actually work on the document.

He said, “We have information that the House of Representatives
panel has passed its version.

“We will definitely not approve the entire amount because part
of it was approved by the 8th National Assembly as indicated by the
President.

“There is also really no cause for alarm because the money will
not be spent within a year but spread over some years.

“It is after the National Assembly’s approval that the executive
will start the process of sourcing the loan and it can never affect
our budget.”

Repeated calls to the committee chairman to get the official
position of his panel on the issue failed as he did not
respond.

He had also yet to reply to a text message sent to him as of the
time of filing this report.

Buhari had in a letter dated November 26, 2019, said the 8th
National Assembly approved only a part of the external borrowing
request forwarded to it in September 2016.

This, according to him, stalled the Federal Government’s
implementation of critical projects spanning across the mining,
power, health, agricultural, water and educational sectors.

A total of 39 projects were listed for execution with the
money.

However, many finance experts and a former vice-president, Atiku
Abubakar, on Tuesday opposed the $29.9bn loan request.