The Senate has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request for a comprehensive external borrowing plan totaling over $21 billion for the 2025–2026 fiscal years.
According to the Senate, the funds are earmarked to support key national development projects across sectors such as infrastructure, security, agriculture and human capital development.
During plenary on Tuesday in Abuja, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, Senator Aliyu Wamako, presented the long-awaited report, which was first introduced on May 27, 2025. He explained that the delay in adoption was due to parliamentary recesses and challenges in obtaining documentation from the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The approved borrowing package includes $21.19 billion in direct foreign loans, €4 billion (euros), ¥15 billion (Japanese yen), a $65 million grant, and additional domestic borrowing through government bonds amounting to approximately ₦757 billion. It also approved raising up to $2 billion through a foreign-currency-denominated instrument in the domestic market.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Olamilekan Solomon (Ogun West), noted that the approval was largely procedural, as most of the items were already incorporated into the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the 2025 Budget previously passed by the Senate.
