SERAP Tells NASS To Reject Tinubu’s New $24bn Loan Request
By Olalekan Adigun
The civic group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has called on the National Assembly to immediately reject President Bola Tinubu’s fresh $24 billion loan request.
This was contained in a post on the organisation’s X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday.
“The National Assembly must immediately refuse to approve the Tinubu administration’s request to borrow $24bn, which is expected to increase Nigeria’s debt to N183tn. The growing national debt is clearly not sustainable, and not in the public interest,” the organisation posted.
The President made a request of $21.5 billion as part of the 2025-2026 borrowing plan and another loan request of 15 billion Japanese Yen and 51 million Euros grant to the National Assembly on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, President Tinubu requested the Senate to approve a new external borrowing plan of about $21.5 billion as part of the 2025-2026 borrowing plan.
He explained that the initiatives were aimed at generating employment, promoting skill acquisition, fostering entrepreneurship, reducing poverty, and enhancing food security.
The President added that the majority of the projects and programmes would be implemented across the 36 states of the country.
He noted that amid declining domestic funding, it had become essential to pursue prudent external borrowing, saying that a vast financial resource was needed to address the infrastructure gap across the country.
