$22.7bn loan: Blame Igbo senators for South-East exclusion

The Director-General, Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), Professor Yima Sen, says senators from the South-East geopolitical zone are to blame if the region is exempted from the capital projects to be executed from the $22.7 billion loan.

He disclosed this in an interview with Daily Sun published on Tuesday.

Recall that the Senate last week approved President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s request to borrow $22.7 billion externally. The Federal Government said it needed the loan to fund critical infrastructure projects under the 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing Plan.

However, there was a furore after it was alleged that the zone was excluded from the projects, causing the South-East caucus in the Senate to call an emergency meeting.

Sen, who was reacting to the alleged exclusion of the zone, said senators from the area should have fought against it.

“Members from the South East are in the Senate or the National Assembly, which considered the loan before approval and it is their job to ask questions,” Sen said.

“They ought to have pointed out that they were not well represented in project allocation which the loan is meant to address.

“That is their job; it is what they are there to do and not to buy flashy cars, gallivant in Abuja and take people to parties in Dubai.

“So, that question should go to the legislators from the South East. Why did they allow the bill to pass when their area was not considered in project allocation?”