The Debt Management Office (DMO) has said that Nigeria’s quest for external loans of
$22 billion was not new as President Muhamamdu Buhari made the request in 2016 and
reported that public debt stock of the country was a cumulative figure of borrowings by
successive governments over many years.
According to the DMO, this request is not a new one as being perceived, but rather it
represents those borrowings which have been submitted to the National Assembly but
are yet to be approved before the expiration of the 8th Assembly.
Buhari submitted a request to the National Assembly for approval of the 2016 – 2018
Medium Term External Borrowing Plan for the sum of 22.718 billion dollars, then.
The DMO said in Abuja on Wednesday that it was not appropriate to attribute the Public
Debt Stock to any particular administration.
“The requests in the plan are proposed borrowings from multilateral and bilateral
lenders.
“The proposed loans are concessional, semi-concessional, long-tenored and are for the
purpose of financing infrastructure and other developmental social projects.
“All of which have multiplier effects in terms of job creation, business opportunities and
overall increase in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),’’ the DMO said.
It explained that the benefits of the loans were in the long term and serve generations
of Nigerians.
MM/GIK/APA