Senate to Amaechi: Withdraw your statement on $29.9bn loan

The Senate has asked Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi to withdraw the statement credited to him, where he claimed that the refusal of the National Assembly to approve the Federal Government’s $29.9billion external loan was frustrating the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan and Ibadan-Ilorin-Minna -Kano rail lines.

The Senate in a statement by its spokesman, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said the statement was not only false but also portrayed the Minister as not in tune with the position of the government in which he is serving.

At a North Central town hall meeting in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, on Monday, Amaechi had denied that President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) promised to fix Nigeria’s problems within a year.
He accused the National Assembly of holding the Buhari government back from fixing infrastructure problems with their failure to approve its $29.9billion external borrowing plan.

He said Nigerians knew who to hold if the current government failed to achieve its policies targeted to better their lives.

But in a statement, Abdullahi, who represents Niger North in the National Assembly under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), insisted that the approval of USD 1 billion EuroBond by the National Assembly already contained the two rail lines Amaechi was referring to.

In November last year, the Senate had rejected the President’s request to borrow $29.9billion from external sources due to lack of details on how the money would be spent.

“As of today, the only request for approval from the Executive for loan was the one dated January 27, 2017 and signed by Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo seeking a ‘Resolution of the National Assembly for the Issuance of USD 1 Billion EuroBond in the International Capital Market for the Funding of the 2016 Budget Deficit’ and we immediately granted the approval.

“Also, in the letter quoted above, the Government mentioned the two rail lines cited by the minister as part of the projects for which the EuroBond will be utilised. So, we cannot understand what the grouse of Amaechi is.

“We view that statement based on false and misinformed premise strongly as a mere attempt to incite the people against the National Assembly. The Minister should therefore withdraw that statement. Furthermore, the National Assembly will take up the matter with the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo.

“As a former Speaker of a state House of Assembly, we believe that a minister like Amaechi should always check his facts and refrain from making unguarded and inciting remarks against the legislature,” Abdullahi stated.