The request for a fresh loan approval from the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari and the $346 million approved by the World Bank for two projects in the Lake Chad region are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Sun newspaper reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the Senate, seeking approval to borrow a fresh $5.5 billion from international development banks and other global financial institutions.
According to a letter to the Senate, the loan will be used to fund the deficits in the 2020 budget, occasioned by the outbreak of the deadly COVID-19.
ThisDay says that the World Bank has approved a total of $346 million for two projects in the Lake Chad region covering Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic in a bid to strengthen resilience and livelihoods.
The prevailing security situation in the region has hindered over 49 million people from attaining their livelihoods in fishing, livestock farming, and agriculture.
The bank said in a statement that the projects, which are to be financed through the International Development Association (IDA), will be shared between Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.
The IDA is a member of the World Bank Group, which offers concessional loans and grants to the world’s poorest developing countries.
The World Bank stated that the Lake Chad region suffers from poor development and economic indicators compared to the averages in other areas in the four countries.
The Punch reports that the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has confirmed that Super Eagles head coach, Gernot Rohr, has extended his contract with the federation for another two years.
The NFF boss sain on Wednesday that he was delighted that the Franco-German, whose previous two-year contract ends in June, had decided to continue with the national team until 2022.
“The new contract begins July 1, 2020 and ends December 31, 2022,” Pinnick said in an exclusive interview with the newspaper.
The Guardian reports that despite the two day holiday declared by the Federal Government on Monday and Tuesday, to commemorate the Eid al-Fitr celebration, transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), reopened bullish yesterday, occasioned by gains in most blue-chip stocks, causing market capitalisation to rise by N8 billion.
The report added that the All Share Index recorded 16.48 points or 0.07 percent gain to settle at 25,221.23 points. Similarly, market capitalisation gained N8 billion to close at N13.144trillion.
The uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium value stocks, amongst which were; Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Cement, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Guinness Nigeria, and Dangote Sugar Refinery.
The Nation newspaper said that the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has not stepped down from office.
The report said that Adesina, in a statement, said that “the bank’s institutional framework is solid and efficient, adding that he stands by it”.
“In recent weeks and over the last few days especially, I have been overwhelmed by the tremendous support received from around the world. I have absolute confidence in the integrity of the Bank that I lead and its governance systems, rules and procedures,” he said in the statement.
GIK/APA