President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday sought the approval of the House of Representatives to obtain $200 million loan from the World Bank for Lagos State.
This is contained in a letter to the House of Representatives written by the President and read by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, during plenary.
According to Dogara, the loan which is for Development Policy Operation (DPOII) was approved in 2010 by the World Bank and is expected to be implemented in three tranches per annum.
He said that the first tranche was approved by the National Assembly in the 2010 to 2012 Federal Government external borrowing plan while the second tranche was approved in the 2012 to 2014 plan.
He said that the letter stated that DPO 1 was successfully implemented by Lagos State government in 2014.
“Following the successful implementation as adjudged by the World Bank, the bank’s Board of Directors approved the second tranche of the DPO on April 29, 2015.
“DPO 111 was captured in the Federal Government external (rolling) borrowing plan of 2014 to 2016 which was discussed with the National Assembly, but was not concluded,’’ Dogara said.
He solicited the support of the members to facilitate the consideration and early approval of DPO 11.
“This is to enable the state to consolidate on the gains of the second tranche of the operation (DPO 11).’’
Similarly, Buhari also requested approval for increase in the amount to be raised through the Diaspora bond from the international capital market.
“This is in line with the Federal Government’s effort to mobilise capital to finance critical infrastructure in the country,’’ the letter stated.
It letter stated that the request was crucial in diversifying Federal Government’s sources of funding and encourage Nigerians in the Diaspora contribute to the development of the economy.
It added that the reason for the request to increase the issuance amount to $300 million was to meet the huge capital needed to bridge the infrastructure gap and ensure growth and development.
