The House of Representatives has approved the request by President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the N22.7 trillion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN extended to the Federal Government under its Ways and Means provision.
The Ways and Means provision allows the government to borrow from the apex bank if it needs short-term or emergency finance to fund delayed government expected cash receipts of fiscal deficits.
The Federal Government had said that it would repay the loan which as of December 2022 stood at N22.7 trillion with securities such as treasury bills and bonds issuance.
Also, President Buhari had in December last year, asked both chambers of the National Assembly to approve the proposal.
But the lawmakers could not consider the request before proceeding with the election, Easter, and Ramadan breaks.
After resumption on Tuesday, the Senate approved the request on Wednesday while the House of Representatives followed suit on Thursday.
That was sequel to the consideration and approval of the report of the Committee on Finance, Banking and Currency and Aids, Loans and Debt Management, standing in the name James Abiodun Faleke (APC, Lagos) by the Committee of Supply.
The report asked the House to: “approve the requested additional N1 trillion Ways and Means advances for the implementation of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act as passed by the National Assembly.
“Approve the Securitisation of the total outstanding Ways and Means amount under the following terms: amount, N23, 719,703,774,306.90; tenor 40 years; moratorium on principal repayment three years; pricing/interest rate 9 percent per annum.”
Also at the plenary, the ad-hoc committees saddled with the investigation of the volume of fuel consumed daily, and the state of refineries, laid its findings and recommendations for consideration.
In his remarks at the reports were laid, the Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase who presided over the plenary session said the report would be considered next week Tuesday and directed the clerk to make copies of the reports available to members
“Clerk please ensure all members get copies of these reports before Tuesday because they are important and will help in decision-making for the outgoing and incoming government,” Wase said.
Dominica Nwabufo
