Buhari govt to borrow N25.5bn to provide solar power for National Assembly

The federal government is to borrow N25.5bn ($62.1m) to construct 17MW hybrid solar power infrastructure for the National Assembly.

The loan is part of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s N7.6trn external borrowing request approved by the Senate Wednesday.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Clifford Ordia, said his panel found that of the $22.8bn approved by the National Assembly under the 2016-2018 External Borrowing Plan, only $2.8bn, representing 10 percent, had been disbursed to Nigeria.

The committee, in its report, listed various proposed projects to be financed by the loans.

The $62.1m loan earmarked for construction of solar power plant in the National Assembly would be sourced from SINOCURE/Standard Chartered Bank.

The contract, according to the report, was awarded at a total value of $60.1m.

However, the report was silent on what the balance of $2m would be used for.

According to the report, the government also earmarked $100m to execute a project in the Ministry of Women Affairs tagged “Nigeria for Women Projects”.

The project, according to the document, is to support livelihoods for 324,000 women over the age of 18 years in targeted local governments in states of Abia, Kebbi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba States.