The $800 million loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari has been approved by federal lawmakers, according to Abubakar Yunusa Ahmad, a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Loans, Aids, and Debt Management.
However, Ahmad said that the loan won’t be used by the current administration.
He stated that the incoming government would determine how to best utilize the funds.
“We advised them: ‘First, leave this thing to the incoming government,” Ahmad said during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday.
He added, “But since the loan has been granted, we can collect. If we cannot use it, maybe when the incoming government comes, they may have a different approach to issues.”
President Buhari had previously written to the Senate requesting approval for an $800 million loan from the World Bank.
The loan aims to aid 50 million vulnerable Nigerians or 10 million households, as part of measures to soothe the impact of subsidy removal.
Ahmad speaking on the loan being used by the present Ministers hinted at a potential overhaul of the cabinet with the incoming administration. “It was on social media that probably they intended not to use any of Buhari’s ministers because they have already taken them to have underperformed,” he said.
“We have granted that loan, it is approved, so we want Nigerians to take it but it is not going to be utilised by this outgoing government. Now, if the incoming government comes, we will see also their own template,” he concluded.
