President Bola Tinubu has written to the National Assembly seeking its approval to borrow $347m under the 2025–2026 borrowing plan.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, read the President’s correspondence on the floor of the Green Chamber during Wednesday’s plenary.
According to the President, the loan is necessary due to a rise in the funding needs for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, which increased by $47 million, from $700 million to $747 million.
Justifying the loan request, the President said that when the borrowing plan was transmitted to the parliament, the lead arranger for financing only had financing commitments of up $700m from lenders, stressing that the shortfall in the financing was covered by export credit agencies.
“It is therefore necessary to increase the value of the financing for the project by $47 million to ensure it aligns with the loan size agreed in the finance documents for the project,” the President said in the letter.
He noted that $300m is needed for the Nigerian universal communications access project, a landmark telecommunications initiative aimed at bridging the digital divide through the deployment of 7,000 telecommunications towers across hard-to-reach rural dwellings.
Recall that in May, Tinubu sought the approval of the parliament to approve the 2025-2026 borrowing plan of $21.54bn, €2.19bn and ¥15 billion, in addition to a €65 million grant.
With the extra $47 million for the Lagos-Calabar road project and $300 million for the universal communication access project, the initial $21.54bn has witnessed a marginal increase to $21.89bn.
Following the presentation of a report by Chairman of the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, Abubakar Nalaraba, the House, chaired by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, approved the loan request.
The lawmaker noted that in spite of increased borrowing, Nigeria’s debt portfolio “remains sustainable.”
He said, “At over N145tn, the debt-to-GDP ratio of about 50% is within international threshold (56%).
“The current administration has succeeded in reducing the high debt service to revenue ratio from over 90% to less than 70%.
“The Federal Government’s capacity to service the new debt is bolstered by the anticipated revenue gains from the Nigerian Tax Act 2025, projected to grow by over 18% year-on-year starting from 2026.”
This is coming after the Senate on Tuesday approved Tinubu’s external borrowing plan of over $21bn for the 2025–2026 fiscal cycle.
