By Ayodele Oni
A fresh foreign loan request from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu berthed at the Senate on Tuesday.
President Tinubu is seeking approval for new external loans totalling $6 billion to fund infrastructure projects, debt servicing, and port rehabilitation.
In a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and read during Tuesday’s plenary, the President sought approval for a $5 billion facility from First Abu Dhabi Bank.
If approved, Nigeria’s total public debt would rise from $110.3 billion to $115.3 billion.
Tinubu urged the Senate to grant “urgent approval,” noting that the loan would be backed by naira denominated securities as collateral.
In a separate letter, the President also requested approval for an additional $1 billion loan to rehabilitate the Lagos Port Complex and Tin Can Island Port.
This is one of the fallouts of the president visit to the United Kingdom.
According to him, the facility arranged by Citibank London and backed by UK Export Finance, is aimed at modernising the two major ports to improve efficiency, safety, and overall functionality.
He stated that the rehabilitation would address longstanding infrastructural deficiencies, align operations with global best practices, and support economic growth.
The President added that the proposed loan would have a repayment tenure of 14 years, including a 48 month availability period, with a 1.1 percent availability fee and a 1.07 percent UKEF premium.
Both requests have been referred to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Loans for further scrutiny, with a directive to report back to plenary as soon as possible
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