President Bola Tinubu has written to the Senate to permit his administration to go continue with the processing of a $800m loan facility from the World Bank requested by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to finance the National Safety Net Programme.
The president’s request was in a letter read by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, at the plenary on Thursday.
Recall two weeks before the end of his administration in May, Mr. Buhari requested the approval of the Senate to obtain a loan facility of $800m from the World Bank to be distributed to poor and vulnerable households.
The then Ahmad Lawan-led Senate referred the request to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, but the committee did not report to the Senate before the administration’s tenure ended on 29 May.
In the letter, Mr. Tinubu pointed out that the reason for obtaining the loan facility is to “expand coverage of shock responsive safety net support for all and vulnerable Nigerians” and “to meet the cost of their basic needs.”
“You may also wish to know that the purpose of the facility is to expand coverage of shock responsive safety net support for all and vulnerable Nigerians and the….at the cost of meeting basic needs.” President Tinubu stated in the letter.
Explaining further the President in his letter noted, “You may further wish to note that under the conditional cash transfer window of the program, the Federal Government of Nigeria will transfer the sum of 8,000 a month to 12 million poor and low-income households for six months with a multiplying effect on about 60 million individuals.
“To guarantee the credibility of the process, digital transfers will be made directly to beneficiaries’ accounts and mobile wallets. It is expected that the program will stimulate economic activities in the informal sector and improve nutrition, health, and education outcomes for beneficial households.
“Given the above, I wish to invite the Senate to kindly grant approvals for additional loan facilities USD800milliom to be secured from World Bank for the National Social Safety Net Programme,” the president wrote
The Senate President, however, referred the request to the Committee of the Whole for consideration on the ground that the Senate has yet to constitute the committee on local and foreign debt.
