Boko Haram: Senate c’ttee okays Jonathan’s $1bn foreign loan

The Senate committee on Finance chaired by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna) has recommended that the senate approves President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for a $1billion (about N160 billion) loan to prosecute the war against Boko Haram insurgency. 

The president had on July 17 asked the National Assembly to approved the request but the matter […]

The Senate committee on Finance chaired by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna) has recommended that the senate approves President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for a $1billion (about N160 billion) loan to prosecute the war against Boko Haram insurgency.



The president had on July 17 asked the National Assembly to approved the request but the matter was not attended to as lawmakers proceeded on their annual recess a day after.

Last week the Senate referred the request to its committee on Finance chaired by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna).

The committee turned in the report on Wednesday in which it recommended that the Senate approve the loan as requested by the president.

Our correspondent reports that loan request came less than four months after the National Assembly appropriated over N1 trillion for security in the 2014 budget.

Since 2011, the Federal government has allocated not less than N1 trillion for three consecutive years for the defence and security sector, all in an effort to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.

Jonathan had said that the money was needed to “upgrade the equipment, rani job and logistics of our armed forces and security services to enable them more forcefully confront this serious threat.”