Northern Nigerian Breaking News

Despite suspension of fuel subsidy removal, Buhari writes senate requests $800m World Bank loan

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday wrote to the Senate, requesting approval for $800 million loan from the World Bank to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.

In a letter read by the Senate President , Senator Ahmad Lawan,  Buhari stated that the loan would be used to expand the National Social Safety Net Programme and would be sourced from the World Bank.

This request follows the Federal Government’s announcement in April of an $800 million World Bank grant aimed at 50 million vulnerable Nigerians or 10 million households, as part of its subsidy palliative measures.

Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, emphasized that discussions are ongoing with the newly established Presidential Transition Council (PTC) and the incoming administration to manage the palliative program, which includes considerations such as the need for buses.

This comes weeks after the National Economic Council (NEC) made fresh moves on the planned removal of subsidies on petroleum products by the end of the Buhari administration.

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The NEC comprises the 36 state governors, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and other co-opted government officials.

Read Also:JUST IN: FG suspends fuel subsidy removal

In light of the World Bank loan request, a non-governmental organisation, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) had lamented what he described as the nonchalant attitude displayed by the Buhari administration towards the country’s crippling debt crisis.

The Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, queried the Federal Government over the loan request, adding that borrowing to fund post-fuel subsidy removal palliatives is strange.

He wondered “if the fuel subsidy removal process has been suspended as announced by the Minister of Finance after the NEC meeting at the end of April, then the government should return the borrowed money because what are we taking the loan for?”

Rafsanjani argued that fears of the country getting another $800 million loan from the World Bank sends waves of worries in the minds of Nigerians as Nigeria’s revenue collection in 2022 stood at N10 trillion, with a debt of about N77 trillion.

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