President Muhammadu Buhari has sought for the approval of the senate for his request to obtain $800 million loan from the World Bank to finance the National Safety Net Programme.
The president’s request was contained in a letter read by Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the plenary session on Wednesday.
In the letter sent to the senate, the president said the $800 million loan facility is intended to be used to support poor Nigerians and will be disbursed to poor households across the country.
He claimed that the facility is an extension of the unconditional cash transfer being implemented by the federal government.
The money is intended to be used in taking care of 50 million persons or 10 million households, although the government is secretive about how it arrived at the magic figure of 50 million since it has not produced any verifiable data.
Of the $800 million the sum of $53 million is to be spent on hiring staff, offices, logistics, administration, committee overheads, training, among other things.
Again, many are of the view that figure is excessive considering the fact that the Federal government has been claiming that it has a database that it has been using in making cash transfers to these vulnerable groups of people.
Buhari who leaves office on May 29 said the fund, when approved, will be sent to the bank accounts of the identified beneficiaries.
He also said the federal executive council (FEC) approved his request for obtaining the loan, noting that he is waiting for the approval of the Senate before going ahead with processing the loan.
Recall that the minister of finance, budget and national planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, announced in April that the federal government would secure an $800 million World Bank loan to be disbursed to about 50 million vulnerable Nigerians or 10 million households as part of its subsidy palliatives measures.
She said the disbursement is in anticipation of the planned subsidy removal in June.
