John Alechenu, John Ameh, Everest Amaefule and Ifeanyi Onuba

There is confusion over President Muhammadu Buhari’s $29.9bn loan request, which was rejected by the Senate on November 1, 2016.

Buhari had, in a letter to both chambers of the National Assembly, titled ‘Request for Approval of Federal Government 2016-2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan, asked the legislature to approve his administration’s external borrowing plan of $29.960bn.

The loan will cover the funding of projects between 2016 and 2018.

The Senate had, on November 1, 2016, rejected the loan request, asking the executive to provide further details on it.

The budget has a huge deficit of N2.36tn (or 2.18 per cent of Gross Domestic Product), a figure the President said would be financed through borrowing.

But on Sunday, there was confusion on the status of the loan request and whether the executive had provided the details as requested by the Senate.

The Federal Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office engaged in passing of buck over who should provide the details to the National Assembly.

When one of our correspondents contacted the Director of Information in the Finance Ministry, Salisu Dambatta, on whether the details had been provided, he referred the correspondent to the Debt Management Office.

“I suggest you direct all your enquiries about the $29.9bn loan to the DMO. That is the agency of government that is in charge of debt management in the country,” he said.

Efforts by The PUNCH to speak with the Director-General, DMO, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, failed as calls to his telephone line rang out. A text message sent to his mobile line had yet to be replied as of the time of filing this report on Sunday.

A source close to the organisation told The PUNCH, however, that it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance to supply the specifics as requested by the Senate.

When The PUNCH contacted Dambatta again on the response of the DMO source, he said the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly matters should be contacted.

He said, “The Ministry of Finance didn’t submit the loan request to the National Assembly directly. It was the Presidency that did that. The President has a Special Adviser on National Assembly matters. Find out from him.

“There are procedures that must be followed. We did not submit the loan request directly to the National Assembly.”

The Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, said he had no further information on the request.

He stated, “I have no further information other than where it (the $29bn loan request) stopped the last time. The Senate had reservations about it; the matter is still pending before the House of Representatives.

“The Senate had expressed reservations about it and had remitted it for reconsideration. It is under consideration by the various ministries responsible. That is all I can say.”

The Media Adviser to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr. Akpandem James, said the mandate of the ministry did not cover the issue of the loans.

He said, “The relevant ministry as regards the issue of loan is the ministry of finance. We don’t deal with loans. Anything that has to do with loans is ministry of finance. Any loan matter should be directed to ministry of finance.”

We can’t approve Buhari’s $29.96bn loan request alone –Reps

On its part, the House of Representatives said it could not act alone on the request.

It stated that both arms of the National Assembly must approve such a request before it could be considered to have been duly passed.

In the case of the $29.96bn loan, the House explained that so long as the Senate had not reversed its decision, rejecting the request, there was nothing the former could do to approve it.

Speaking with The PUNCH in Abuja, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, stated that the hands of the House were tied on the issue of the loan as it could not act alone.

Namdas, a member of the All Progressives Congress from Adamawa State, added, “There is no point for us to engage in a futile exercise.

“I will say that the loan issue is not dead, but since the Senate has already rejected it, we will wait until the questions raised by the Senate are addressed.

“This is because if we go ahead and approve it and the Senate withholds approval, the problem will still be there.

“So, let the Ministry of Finance address the issue of details raised by the Senate and we will take it up from there.”

Punchng