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The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), on Wednesday, sought Senate approval for $800 million loan to finance the National Social Safety Network Programme.
The request was contained in a letter read by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, to lawmakers on the floor of the Senate.
The President partly wrote, “Please note that the Federal Executive Council approved an additional loan facility to the tune of USD800 million to be secured from the World Bank, for the National Social Safety Net Programme and the need to request for your consideration and approval to ensure early implementation.
“The Senate may wish to note that the programme is intended to expand coverage of shock responsive safety net support among the poor and vulnerable Nigerians. This will assist them in coping with the costs of meeting basic needs.
“You may wish to note that, the Federal Government of Nigeria under the conditional cash transfer window of the programme will transfer the sum of N5,000 per month to 10.2 million poor and low-income households for a period of six months, with a multiplier effect on about 60 million individuals. In order to guarantee the credibility of the process, digital transfers will be made directly to beneficiaries’ accounts and mobile wallets.
“The NASSP being a social intervention programme will stimulate activities in the informal sector, improve nutrition, health, education and human capital development of beneficiary households.”
Buhari added, “Given the above, I wish to invite the Senate to kindly approve an additional loan facility to the tune of USD8OO million to be secured from the World Bank for the National Social Safety Net Programme,” expressing hope that the request will “receive expeditious consideration by the Senate.”
On May 7, 2023, Nigeria’s borrowing from the World Bank had reached $14.34bn as of March 31, 2023.
This was an increase from the $13.93bn debt recorded by the Debt Management Office as of December 31, 2022.
This means that fresh disbursements on approved loans added $410m to Nigeria’s debt from the World Bank in the first quarter of 2023.
The IBRD lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, while the IDA provides concessionary loans – called credits – and grants to governments of the poorest countries.
The data obtained from the Washington-based bank showed that Nigeria had a debt of $488.66m from IBRD and $13.85bn from IDA as of March 31, 2023.
The PUNCH had observed that the first World Bank loan was acquired in the fiscal year of 1947, according to data from the World Bank.
Since that period, Nigeria has acquired a total of $7.49bn from IBRD and $26.17bn from IDA.
This means that a total of $33.66bn has been borrowed from the World Bank since 1947.
It was also observed that about $7.29bn had been repaid on the loans, with $7.86bn yet to be disbursed by the bank.
