$22.7bn loan: South East Senate caucus to meet

The South East Senate caucus may have concluded arrangements to hold a crucial meeting over the approval of $22.7 billion loan request for Federal Government, The Nation learnt Monday.

The Senate on Thursday March 5th, 2020 approved the 2016-2018 external borrowing plan of the Federal Government.

Part of the borrowing requests approved by the upper chamber was the sum of $22.7billion for the execution of projects in parts of the country.

Before the approval of the request, Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, insisted that the components of the loan should be considered item by item to ensure equity and fairness.

Abaribe pointedly told his colleagues that the loan was lopsided in the distribution of projects.

He noted that some sections of the country were completely left out in the allocation of projects for which the loan was being sought.

The Senate approved the loan despite Abaribe’s alarm.

Multiple sources at the National Assembly told our reporters that the issue of the loan may not have been completely over for South East lawmakers.

One of the sources said, “The South East Senators will meet to decide the next line of action. It is not yet over. The approval of the loan request, which was obviously against the South East took place almost at the weekend, precisely on Thursday when senators were rushing back to their constituencies.

“The lopsidedness in the distribution of projects is there for everybody to see. The caucus will meet to decide the next line of action and how to face our people. The so-called general items in the loan are neither here nor there. Our people are not happy to have been completely sidelined in the distribution of projects in the loan.”

Another source said that “people have been calling South East senators’ names for leaving Abaribe alone to defend the zone.”

He noted that South East Senators were individually being queried for their role in the approval of the loan.

He added that some people were wondering whether other South East senators were not in the chamber when Abaribe alone opposed the lopsidedness of the distribution of projects.”

Leader of Senate South East Caucus, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, could not be reached for his comments and to find out if the Caucus also planned to brief the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

-The Nation