From Fred Itua, Ndubuisi Orji and Kemi Yesufu, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the two chambers of the National Assembly- House of Representatives and Senate- for approval to borrow $6.926 billion.

According to the letter to the parliament, $5.851 billion would be borrowed from the China Eximbank while $1.1 billion would be sourced from the World Bank.

The two fresh loan requests which are part of the 2016-2018 External Borrowing Rolling Plan is coming in the wake of a deal struck between the presidency and the leadership of the National Assembly more than five months after  it rejected a $29.96 billion loan request from President Buhari,

Prior to the presentation of the new separate loan requests, Daily Sun learnt that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Dogara and principal officers of the two chambers, with the exception of the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, met with the executive at the instance of President Buhari between February and March, 2017.

While the negotiations lasted, some lawmakers, especially members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were briefed regularly on the progress made by the National Assembly’s delegation to the meetings.

Daily Sun gathered that President Buhari, after series of meetings with the leadership of the National Assembly, was advised to present the loan requests in phases.

According to the breakdown, Lagos-Kano railway modernisation project and the Lagos-Ibadan segment will gulp $1.231 billion, the Lagos-Kano railway modernisation project and  Kano-Kaduna segment $1.146 billion, while the Coastal Railway project, Lagos-Calabar segment is expected to gulp $3.474 billion. The three components are part of the loan request from China Exim Bank.

Part of the $1.1 billion World Bank loan request would be used to finance projects in the Boko Haram ravaged North-East and also provide social inclusion and welfare advancement project.

Polio eradication support and routine immunisation project would get $125 million, community and social development project $75 million, states health programme investment project $125 million, state education programme investment programme investment project $100 million,  youth employment and social support project, $100 million while  FADAMA 3 project would get $50 million.

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On November 1, 2016, President Buhari had forwarded a request to both chambers of the National Assembly to approve his request to borrow $29.96 billion to finance projects across all sectors with special emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, growth and employment generation, poverty reduction through safety net programmes and governance, as well as financial

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Part of President Buhari’s letter read: “As you are aware, the funds available under the China/Africa fund are limited and loan applications from all African countries are funded based on first come first serve. Therefore, there is an urgent need for us to sign these loans as soon as they are approved or we will lose out in the event that we delay in signing the loan agreement.

These loans form part of our overall rail funding strategy.

“We are already in the process of completing the concession of the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri line to immediately link the eastern part of the nation. We fully intend to source further concessioning funding to ultimately upgrade this critical line to high speed standard gauge line. These projects form part of our overall plans to resuscitate the rail transport across the nation and thereby drive inclusive growth.

“You may also recall my earlier request for the speedy clearance of some emergency projects earmarked for the North East in the 2016-2018 borrowing plan. You will also recall that my request was based on the need to consolidate the relative peace at that time. Since then the situation as you are aware, has changed dramatically and introduced even more urgency to the situation in the zone than ever before.

“While the capture and destruction of the stronghold of Boko Haram in Sambisa forest was welcome news, the recent and unfortunate incident of the bombing of an IDP camp by mistake with loss of civilian lives, brings to fore the need to resettle the people back to their homes quickly in other to avoid such incidence in the future.

“However, for us to be able to do this, there is need for urgent consideration of the identified projects, which will enable us to start reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region in other to create jobs for the people and rehabilitate the schools to get the children of the streets into schools.”

On November 1, 2016, President Buhari had forwarded a request to both chambers of the National Assembly to approve his request to borrow $29.96 billion to finance projects across all sectors with special emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, growth and employment generation, poverty reduction through safety net programmes and governance, as well as financial