…As N315.8bn NNDC budget passes second reading
BEVERLY HILLS, CA, October 24, (THEWILL) – The federal government Thursday asked the House of Representatives to include a credit facility of $600 million for the Lagos State Government in the 2012-2013 medium term borrowing plan of the government.
In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, President Goodluck Jonathan said while the World Bank facility was designed to be implemented in three tranches of $200 million each year, “unfortunately, the second tranche of Development Policy Operation II was not captured in the 2012-2014 medium term borrowing plan. ”
He explained that the inclusion of the second tranche was necessary due to its importance “to the success of, and sustainability of, the first tranche,” adding that the World Bank supported scheme would help the state execute some critical infrastructure projects, including an ultra-modern burn centre, cardiac and renal centre, 27 kilometre Lagos-Badagry light rail line and the completion of a 70 million gallons per day Adiyan water facility, among others.
The letter stated: “In the light of the above therefore, I wish to seek your understanding and to request you to admit the Lagos State Development Policy Operation II into the 2012-2014 Medium Term Borrowing Plan to enable the state consolidate the gains of the first tranche of the Operation with no implication to the borrowing plan.”
It will be recalled that the 2012-2014 medium term borrowing plan of the country was earlier transmitted to the National Assembly for approval, but without the Lagos State Development Policy Operation (DPO II). The DPO I of the state was implemented in 2011.The Development Policy Operation is Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative supported by the World Bank.
Also at Thursday’s sitting, the House passed for second reading the 2013 appropriation Bill of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of N315.8 billion.
Of the amount, N15.08 billion is for personnel costs, N11.99 million is for overhead expenditure, and N2.28 billion is for capital expenditure while the balance of N286.45 billion is for development projects for the service of the NDDC.
In a related development, the House has mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency to investigate the alleged discriminatory policy by certain commercial banks on real estate and assets located in selected cities and locations as acceptable collateral.
The Committee has four weeks to carry out the assignment and report back to the chamber.
This was the outcome of a motion sponsored by Hon. Udo Oluchi Ibeji as the House expressed worry over the negative impact the policy will have on trade and businesses and the general economy of the country.
Ibeji had specifically listed the commercial banks involved in the practice to include Skye Bank, Access Bank, FCMB, Mainstreet, Keystone, Ecobank and Sterling Bank . According to him, the banks operate a quiet policy of insisting that immovable assets required as collateral for banking facility must be located in Lagos, Port Harcourt or Abuja.
By Saint Mugaga, Abuja
