President Muhammadu
Buhari on Tuesday sought the approval of the House of Representatives to obtain
200 million U.S dollars 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 dollars was to
meet the huge capital needed to bridge the infrastructure gap and ensure growth
and development. (NAN)
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