$30bn loan request suffers setback, Saraki insists on National Assembly position

…Says external loan never discussed during visits to Presidency

Hopes that the Senate would rescind its decision on the rejection of the $29.9billion external loan by President Muhammadu Buhari, dimmed yesterday, as Senate President Bukola Saraki insisted that the position of the National Assembly stands.

The Senate President dismissed media reports linking his frequent visits to the Presidential Villa to the foreign loan.

Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, stated that in all his recent meetings with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the issue of the proposed loan never came up for discussion.

The upper chamber had a fortnight ago rejected the President’s bid to borrow $29.96 billion to reflate the economy for lack of supporting documents.

Buhari and Saraki are understood to have met three times on the issue in eight days since the Senate turned down the request.

The loan was also meant to fund the 2017 budget yet to be submitted to the National Assembly.

But Saraki who doubles as Chairman of the National Assembly, disclosed that the legislative body has taken a position, rejecting the proposal.

“The National Assembly which I head as Senate President has taken a position on the issue as required of it by the laws of the land and legislative conventions,” the statement reads in part.

Recall that Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose had urged Saraki not to support the plan by the Federal Government to obtain the loan.

Fayose accused Buhari of using the ongoing trial of Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to blackmail him to rescind the Senate’s decision.

Similarly, a lead story in one of the national dailies on Thursday, reported that the Senate had struck a deal with the Presidency to approve the request, on the grounds that the N100billion Constituency Projects would be implemented.

Reacting to this, Saraki advised politicians and the media to stop peddling empty speculations about his recent visits to the Presidential Villa and linking such visits to the request by the Buhari administration for approval of the National Assembly to get $29.9bn loan from foreign sources.

He described as unfortunate, comments by some politicians on the loan issue without any factual basis was unfortunate.

He said: “Like I once told the media, these politically-motivated commentaries are trivialising a serious national issue and presenting it as if it is a personal matter that can be decided at meetings between Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari.

“At every point, the present National Assembly will make decisions based on national interest and we have vowed that we will always act in the interest of our people. That is why despite the fact that members belong to different parties, when national issues come to the floor we forget about party affiliations and act as Nigerians elected to protect the interest of Nigeria.

“A visit to the Presidency by the Senate President is a normal thing because we need to consult, discuss, exchange ideas and make suggestions to each other from time to time. More importantly, at this time, when the nation is facing economic crisis, there is need for frequent engagements by the Presidency and the National Assembly.

“It is in fact very unfortunate that these empty speculations by the media are now forming the basis for commentaries by some politicians who are in a position to be better informed. Politicians should stop playing to the gallery or drawing political capital from all issues. When serious national issues are on ground, we should refrain from making statements based on mere sentiments. Similarly, the media should exercise restraint in their reportage and commentaries in order to properly serve our people.

“At a time when we are about to prepare a budget which is aimed at responding to the current recession and our plan is to ensure all issues concerning the budget are ironed out before the budget comes to the floor so that we will have a less tedious process than that of last year, the media should be ready to witness more of these engagements between the Presidency and the National Assembly”.