President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has requested the National Assembly's approval to borrow an additional $347 million under the 2025–2026 external borrowing plan to fund key infrastructure and telecommunications projects.
The request was read by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, during plenary on Wednesday.
In his letter to the lawmakers, the President explained that $47 million of the loan is needed to cover a funding gap in the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, whose financing requirement recently increased from $700 million to $747 million. He noted that when the borrowing plan was initially submitted, the lead arranger had secured financing commitments for only $700 million, with the shortfall expected to be covered by export credit agencies.
“It is therefore necessary to increase the value of the financing for the project by $47 million to ensure it aligns with the loan size agreed in the finance documents for the project,” the President wrote.
Additionally, Tinubu requested $300 million to finance the Nigerian Universal Communications Access Project. The project seeks to bridge the digital divide by deploying 7,000 telecommunications towers in underserved rural communities across the country.
These requests bring the total value of the proposed borrowing plan from the previously approved $21.54 billion to approximately $21.89 billion.
The House of Representatives, following the presentation of a report by Abubakar Nalaraba, Chairman of the Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, approved the request during a session presided over by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu.
Nalaraba assured that despite the increase, Nigeria’s debt profile remains within acceptable international standards. “At over ₦145 trillion, our debt-to-GDP ratio stands at about 50%, which is within the global threshold of 56%,” he said.
He also noted that the Tinubu administration had reduced the debt service-to-revenue ratio from over 90% to below 70%, and projected further improvement through the Nigerian Tax Act 2025, which is expected to drive revenue growth by more than 18% annually beginning in 2026.
The House’s approval follows a similar nod from the Senate on Tuesday for the broader $21 billion external borrowing plan covering the 2025–2026 fiscal cycle.
ADEOLA KUNLE
