President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, August 4, 2015, sought the approval of the National Assembly to obtain a $75 million dollars (about N15.75 billion) credit facility from the World Bank for Edo State.
The request was contained in a letter from the President, which was read by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, at plenary.
Buhari informed the lawmakers that the World Bank had approved a Development Policy Programme (DPP) for $225 million (about N47.25 billion) for Edo in 2012.
He explained that the programme was to be implemented in three tranches of $75 million per annum.
The letter stated that the first tranche was approved by the National Assembly in the 2012/2014 Federal Government external ruling borrowing plan.
The letter said that the DPP had since been successfully implemented by the state in 2014, and “the bank’s board of executive directors approved the second tranche.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the President’s letter said that on April 29, 2015, the DPP was captured in the Federal Government external borrowing plan of 2014/2017, which was pending with the National Assembly.
Buhari noted that Edo State had informed him that the key objectives of the DPP were already beginning to yield fruit in terms of increased influence of private investment to the state, in close private sector employment opportunities and increased internally generated revenue.
The President’s letter was also read on the floor of the Senate.
