The Senate has approved the $200 million loan request for the Lagos State government, following deliberation of the report of Ad-hoc Committee on Foreign and Local debt to which the request was referred a fortnight ago.
In a motion for the consideration of the report, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC Kano South) said that the Senate did consider the Report of Ad-Committee on Local and Foreign Debts for Special approval of Lagos State Development Policy Operation (DPO) loan budget support of US$200 Million from the World Bank.
Gaya explained that the loan would go a long way developing the state’s infrastructure and in generating jobs for the teeming unemployed in Lagos State.
Senator Danjuma Goje, however, warned that the loan should not be taken just for the sake of it, but should be expended judiciously and purposefully so that when it was being paid back people could point to the infrastructures it was used for.
“Mr Senate President, my own is to express caution. Loans are meant to be paid back with interest and so it should be judiciously used to the extent that the people of Lagos State could point to those things it was used for,” he said.
In his contribution, Senator George Sekibo called on the Senate to ensure a detailed probe of past loans, adding that the red chamber should be carried along in the implementation of those targeted infrastructures so as to avoid corruption and misapplication of the funds.