B’Haram: Reps okay Jonathan’s bid for $1bn loan

The federal house of representatives on Wednesday approved the $1bn loan request by President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.

Jonathan made the loan request in a letter to the national assembly on July 16, saying the money would be invested in upgrading equipment, training and logistics of the armed forces.

The president’s hopes of securing approval for the money then suffered a setback as two days after, the national assembly embarked on a two-month recess.

The Senate eventually approved the request on September 25 after reconvening, but that was after a rowdy session featuring staunch opposition by some lawmakers.

On Wednesday at the house of reps, the plenary considered and adopted the report on the loan earlier submitted by the joint committee on aids/loans/debt management and finance.

The committee had recommended that the house should “approve the request of Mr President on the need for his administration to borrow not more than $1bn for the purpose of tackling the current national security challenges”.

However, the house requested the office of the national security adviser to provide the breakdown of the share of the loan to the Nigerian army; Nigerian air force; Nigerian navy; Nigeria police force; and the department of state services.

The house also directed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy, to provide information on the “source of funds, terms and conditions of the loan (vis-a-vis the tenor, interest repayment, etc) to the committees on aids, loans/debt manage‎ment and finance” within one week.

Andrew Uchendu, an All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Rivers state, attempted to stop the approval but he was overruled.

Uchendu had said his understanding of the report was that the “attached ‎conditions” should be met before approval by the house.

But Emeka Ihedioha, the presiding deputy speaker, overruled him.

Ihedioha advised Uchendu to either vote to support the approval or vote against it‎, as the issue had gone beyond fresh debate.

The house thereafter voted and approved the $1bn loan request.

While presenting a report on the loan request to the senate, Ahmad Makarfi, chairman of the committee on finance, said the facility was not a cash loan but supply of military hardware to be paid over seven years.