Fred Itua, Abuja
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has revealed that the 9th Senate will pass President Muhammadu Buhari’s $29.9 billion loan request.
Lawan who spoke in Abuja during a media parley, however, said the various standing committees will carry out serious oversight functions and ensure that the money is not misappropriated by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
In November 2016, Bukola Saraki led Senate rejected the same loan request from President Buhari. It had complained that details of the request were not forwarded to the chamber.
Lawan said: “The question of whether we will pass the loan request of the Executive arm of Government, yes, we will pass it. If we don’t have money and you have projects to build them, how will you provide infrastructure that you need?
“But one thing is that, we are going to be critical that every cent that is borrowed is tied to a project. These are projects that will have spillover effects on the economy and we will undertake our oversight so well to ensure that such funds are properly, prudently, economically and transparently are applied on those projects.”