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The senate on Thursday approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s $22.7 billion loan request, almost four years after it was rejected by the previous assembly.
At its plenary session on Thursday, the upper legislative chamber approved the 2016-2018 external borrowing plan which the president said would be used to develop critical projects across the country.
According to a document that accompanied the president’s request, the fresh loan is for about 35 projects, many of which are infrastructural.
The document shows that a part of the money will be used on new projects, while the rest will go into existing ones.
WHERE WILL THE LOAN COME FROM?
Over 70 percent of the loan will come from the Exim Bank of China, while the remaining funds will come from the World Bank, Africa Development Bank among others.
Here are the institutions the loan is being requested:
Exim Bank of China ($17 billion)
World Bank ($2.95 billion)
Africa Development Bank ($1.88 billion)
Islamic Development Bank ($110 million)
Japan International Cooperation Agency ($200 million)
German Development Bank ($20 million)
French Development Agency ($480 million)
THE SPENDING PLAN
Here is how the Buhari administration plans to spend the loan and where the projects are located as contained in the document:
INFRASTRUCTURE
– Emergency road rehabilitation and maintenance ($434.7 million, nationwide)
– Abidjan-Lagos corridor highway development project study ($1.5 million; multinational)
– Abuja mass rail transit project (phase 2) ($1.25 billion; FCT)
– East West road ($800 million; Niger Delta)
– Nigeria Housing Finance Project Guarantee Scheme ($100 million; national)
– Lagos-Kano railway modernisation project (Ibadan-Kano segment double track) ($5.53 billion; Ibadan-Kano states)
– Railway modernisation coastal railway project (Calabar-Port Harcourt-Onne deep sea port segment ($3.47 billion; Cross River and Rivers states)
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
– National Social Safety Net Project ($500 million, nationwide)
– Multi-sectoral crises recovery programme ($200 million, North East)
– North East Nigeria integrated social protection, basic health, education, nutrition services and livelihood restoration project ($100 million; North-East)
POWER
– Power transmission project ($200 million; Lagos, Ogun)
– Vocational training in power sector ($50 million; FCT, Lagos, Ogun. Kano, Plateau, Niger, Enugu, Kaduna and Cross River)
– TCN overall transportation system enhancement project ($200 million; nationwide)
– Mambila hydro-electric power project ($4.8 billion; Taraba)
– Nigeria Electricity Transmission and Access Project ($364 million; nationwide)
EDUCATION
– Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) ($500 million, nationwide)
ECONOMY
– Development finance project ($500 million, nationwide)
– Kaduna state economic transformation programme for results ($35 million, Kaduna)
– Development finance project (2) ($450 million, Min. of Power)
– Development finance project (3) ($20 million, nationwide)
– MSMEs project ($1.28 billion; nationwide)
COMMUNICATION
– NTA digitisation project ($500 million; nationwide)
– National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructural Backbone Project (NICTIB) phase II ($328.1 million; Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Akure, Maiduguri, Lokoja, Kaduna, Akwanga, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina)
AGRICULTURE
– Staple crops processing zone support project ($100 million, Kogi)
– Agriculture Transformation Agenda Support Project II (ATASP) ($200 million, nationwide)
– Staple crops processing zone projects (2) (500 million; nationwide)
HEALTH/WATER
– Regional disease surveillance systems enhancement project in West Africa ($90 million, nationwide)
– Health System Project ($110 million, Katsina)
– Rural water supply and sanitation ($150 million; North East and Plateau)
– Greater Abuja water supply project ($381 million; FCT)
GOVERNANCE
– Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project (FGIP) ($200 million, government institutions)
– Institutional strengthening and implementation of policy reforms ($33.7 million, Min. of Works and Housing)
ENVIRONMENT
– Lake Chad Basin Commission ($13 million, multinational)
– Integrated programme for development and adaption to climate change in the Niger Basin ($6 million; Nigeria and Niger)
– Development of the mining industry ($150 million, nationwide)
(thecable.ng)