The Senator representing Anambra Central, Victor Umeh, has questioned how the Federal Government has spent funds from previous borrowings, asking why budgetary obligations remain unmet despite repeated approvals for loans.
Umeh spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday while reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s request to the National Assembly for approval to borrow an additional $20.5 billion and €1.45 billion.
The senator argued that previous borrowing requests were justified on the grounds that the funds would finance government budgets, yet contractors were still owed for capital projects.
“The truth is that we have approved so much funds to be borrowed in the past, and on each occasion we’ve been told that this borrowing would be able to fund the budgets and these budgets have remained unfunded up till this day,” Umeh said.
He noted that three budgets were running concurrently, while the government had yet to meet its obligations to contractors handling capital projects.
“Three budgets are running concurrently and the government is not meeting its obligations to contractors on capital projects and so on and so forth. So if you borrow to finance a budget and you are not able to finance that budget, where has the money gone to? That is the question in the lips of everybody,” he said.
Umeh also suggested that the latest loan request would eventually receive legislative approval, arguing that opposition lawmakers would be outvoted by members of the ruling party.
President Tinubu has written to the National Assembly seeking approval for the Federal Government’s 2026–2027 supplementary external borrowing plan, valued at $20.5 billion and €1.45 billion.
The government says the proposed loans would fund critical infrastructure, agriculture, education and other key sectors of the economy in line with the administration’s development priorities.
The request has added to the debate over the government’s borrowing plans and Nigeria’s rising debt burden.
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