The Senate has given the green light to fresh external borrowing requests submitted by President Bola Tinubu, approving a total of $6 billion to support budgetary needs and infrastructure development.
The approval followed deliberations on a report presented by the chairman of the senate committee on local and foreign debts, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, representing Sokoto North under the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The decision came shortly after the President formally sought legislative approval, signalling the administration’s urgency in securing funds for priority sectors of the economy.
In a letter addressed to senate president Godswill Akpabio and read during plenary, Tinubu requested authorisation to obtain $5 billion from Abu Dhabi Bank to finance the budget deficit and service existing obligations.
In another correspondence, the President asked lawmakers to approve a $1 billion facility from UK Export Finance, to be accessed through Citibank in London, for the rehabilitation of major port infrastructure.
Tinubu explained that the proposed upgrades — targeting the Lagos Port Complex and Tin Can Island Port — are intended to resolve long-standing operational issues and strengthen Nigeria’s maritime sector.
According to the President, the projects aim to address critical deficiencies, improve efficiency, enhance safety standards, support non-oil trade diversification, and position Nigeria as a trade hub.
After the requests were read on the floor, Akpabio referred them to the senate committee on local and foreign debts with instructions for swift review, leading to their approval on Tuesday.
The new borrowing plan comes as the federal government continues to rely on both domestic and foreign loans to fund deficits and execute key projects.
Only four months earlier, the national assembly approved a separate request by Tinubu to raise N1.15 trillion from the domestic market to finance the 2025 budget shortfall, completing the government’s funding strategy for the fiscal year.
Both the senate and the house of representatives endorsed the move after reviewing reports from their respective debt committees.
At the senate, approval followed the adoption of Wamakko’s report, which outlined major provisions of the 2025 Appropriation Act.
The committee noted that the 2025 budget stands at N59.99 trillion — an increase of N5.25 trillion from the initial N54.74 trillion proposal — highlighting a growing fiscal gap and the government’s dependence on borrowing to bridge it.
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