Nigeria Not Seeking New $800 million World Bank Loan — Finance Minister, Ahmed Clarifies

The federal government has clarified that it is not seeking another $800 million loan from the World Bank to lessen the impact of the impending oil subsidy removal on vulnerable Nigerians.
Finance, Budget, and National Planning Minister Zaniab Ahmed, who provided a clear explanation in a statement on Saturday, called the allegation inaccurate.

We reported on Thursday that President Muhammadu Buhari, in a letter, asked “the Senate to please approve an ‘additional’ loan in the amount of $800 million guaranteed from the World Bank” for the National Development Program. Social Safety Net”.

The report caused outrage among many Nigerians, who interpreted the request to mean $800 a million in new, different from what the authorities had reportedly secured.

Recall that the Minister of Finance, at the end of the April 5 meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), announced that Nigeria had received $800 million from the World Bank to help provide medicines and pain relief for about 50 million poor Nigerians. as a result of the removal of fuel subsidies. However, in the statement titled “Nigeria is not seeking a new loan from the World Bank-Ahmed” and released by Zainab’s special counsel, media and communications, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, Ms. note that the $800 million mentioned is the same as the amount recently received from the international bank.

The statement read:

“The news story is not correct. This is the same loan that the Honourable Minister had explained on several occasions that the $800 million facility the country recently got from the World Bank for post-petrol subsidy removal palliative was awaiting parliamentary approval for the federal government to commence disbursement.

“The government is therefore not seeking another loan for the pending fuel subsidy removal. It is one and the same.

“It will be recalled that the facility would be deployed to provide succor to 10 million households, who are expected to get N5,000 each for a period of six months.

“The minister had explained that the initial duration of the palliatives meant to cushion the effects of the planned subsidy removal on vulnerable Nigerians was for six months, but would be reviewed upon extensive consultation with stakeholders.”

The statement further quoted the minister as having recently explained that “The $800 million has been negotiated and approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and we now have a request before the parliament for approval. And once the parliament approves it, the next administration can decide on the utilization.

“We’ve also been doing preparatory work side by side along the approval process. This includes expanding the committee to include members of the transition team of the President-elect.

“The process will include the verification of the social register which will be used for electronic transfers of the funds.”