From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Senate, yesterday, rescinded its decision on the financier of the Kaduna-Kano railway project in the country from the China Exim Bank to the China Development Bank.
It also harmonised terms on the 2016-2018 Federal Government’s external borrowing plan for the project.
National Assembly had approved $22,798,446,773 loan for the railway modernisation project of the Kaduna-Kano segment.
The upper legislative chamber also approved relevant conditions provided in the harmonised term sheet, which includes Kaduna-Zaria-Kano segment, China Development Bank as the financier, 15 years as maturity with 2.7 per cent and six months Euribor as interest rate as well as 0.4 per cent as commitment fee and 0.5 per cent as upfront fee, respectively.
These resolutions were sequel to a motion sponsored by Sadiq Umar, during plenary.
Presenting the motion, Umar noted that “the 2016-2018 Federal Government external borrowing (rolling) plan was approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives on March 5, 2020 and June 2, 2020 respectively.”
He also recalled that “the National Assembly approved $22,798,446,773 only under the 2016-2018 Medium Term External Borrowing (Rolling) plan.”
The lawmaker recalled the communication from the Federal Ministry of Finance requesting the approval of modifications to the financing proposal for the Nigerian Railway Modernisation Project (Kaduna-Kano segment) occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic whereof China Exim Bank withdrew its support to finance the project.
To secure the funds for the project, Umar added “the contractor, CCEC Nigeria Limited, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Transportation, engaged China Development Bank (CDB) as the new financier in the sum of $973,474,971.38 only.”
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, clarified to his colleagues that the motion was not about a new loan, but the rescission on the financier of an old external borrowing plan and the harmonised terms.