Tinubu faces Senate scrutiny over loan plan with $20.5 bn tranche

President Bola Tinubu asked Nigeria’s Senate on Tuesday to approve $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion in external borrowing, Premium Times reported via AllAfrica on Oct. 28.

The plan would follow earlier approvals under Tinubu, including a $6 billion external borrowing plan in March and a $516.3 million Deutsche Bank AG facility in May for the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.

Victor Umeh, the senator for Anambra Central, questioned the federal government’s use of earlier loans in a Channels Television interview on Tuesday, according to the Premium Times report.

"The truth is that we have approved so much funds to be borrowed in the past, and on each occasion we've been told that this borrowing would be able to fund the budgets and these budgets have remained unfunded up till this day," Umeh said.

Umeh said three budgets were running at the same time and that contractors working on capital projects had not been paid. "So if you borrow to finance a budget and you are not able to finance that budget, where has the money gone to? That is the question on the lips of everybody," he said.

Tinubu’s letter to lawmakers sought approval to process the loans under the 2026-2027 Supplementary External Borrowing Plan. He said the funds would support infrastructure, agriculture, health care, education, water supply, security, employment generation and financial management reforms.

The president said the projects had been chosen after technical and economic assessments and would support socio-economic development. He said the borrowing was needed to address Nigeria’s infrastructure gap and cover a funding shortfall.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the letter during plenary on Tuesday and referred the request to the Senate Committees on Local and Foreign Debts and Appropriations. He directed the committees to report back within one week.

Umeh said he expected the request to pass because ruling-party lawmakers outnumber opposition senators. Premium Times reported that the Senate has not rejected any loan request from the Tinubu administration.

The May approval for the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway involved a nine-year Deutsche Bank AG loan, including a grace period of up to three years. Premium Times reported that the interest rate was capped at the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, a dollar-lending benchmark, plus 5.3% annually, with insurance from the Islamic Corporation of Investment and Export Credit.

In March, the National Assembly approved a $6 billion borrowing plan, including $5 billion from First Abu Dhabi Bank to support the national budget and a $1 billion export finance facility arranged by Citibank for work on Tin Can Island Port and the Lagos Port Complex.

The Senate is expected to decide on Tinubu’s new request after receiving the committees’ recommendations within the one-week window set by Akpabio.

Source: AllAfrica republication of Premium Times report, Oct. 28, 2026