The Senate on Thursday gave approval to the $75 million loan request of President Muhammadu Buhari for the Edo State Government.
President Buhari had last week submitted a letter to the Senate for a World Bank loan of $75 million for Edo State.
In the letter read on the floor of the upper chamber, Buhari explained that the World Bank approved a loan of $225 million for the state in 2012 and that it was agreed that the loan would be implemented in three tranches of $75 million per annum.
It could be recalled that on Tuesday, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, set up an ad-hoc committee on local and foreign debts to look into the loan request.
The Committee, chaired by Senator Kabiru Gaya (Kano South), submitted its report for consideration on Wednesday and recommended that the request be granted.
In his contribution at the plenary session on the loan, Senator Kabiru Haliru implored the Senate to give its approval, arguing that the Edo State Government had used a previous loan from the World Bank judiciously.
But Senator Matthew Uroghide, who is from Edo State, kicked against the loan, saying: “The people of Edo State don’t want the loan.”
The senator read out on the floor the text message sent to him by the people of his senatorial district kicking against the loan.
After exhautive deliberation on the report, Saraki put the request to a voice vote, to which the “nays” and “ayes” collided, but he allowed the loan sail through.