{"id":66798,"date":"2025-05-28T15:30:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T15:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=66798"},"modified":"2025-05-28T15:30:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T15:30:38","slug":"presidency-clarifies-21-5-billion-borrowing-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/05\/28\/presidency-clarifies-21-5-billion-borrowing-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidency Clarifies $21.5 Billion Borrowing Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Patrick Idowu<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Presidency has clarified the nature of the federal and state governments\u2019 proposed 2025-2026 external borrowing plan, stating that the $21.5 billion request submitted to the National Assembly does not represent an immediate or wholesale loan approval.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement released on Wednesday, Presidential Media Adviser Temitope Ajayi explained that the communication to the legislature outlines a strategic borrowing framework rather than a confirmed or immediate debt obligation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA borrowing plan doesn\u2019t amount to taking a $21 billion loan,\u201d Ajayi stated. \u201cIt only shows a plan of what can be borrowed and where the loans will come from for specific projects that are important to the federal and state governments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ajayi emphasized that the plan serves as a roadmap for potential funding to support key infrastructure and development projects across the country.<\/p>\n<p>He added that such plans are a standard feature of responsible fiscal governance, ensuring parliamentary oversight and transparency even if the proposed loans are not fully drawn.<\/p>\n<p>He further explained that any eventual borrowing would be staggered, often linked to project timelines and implementation milestones over a span of five to six years.<\/p>\n<p>The presidential aide also pushed back against what he described as &#8220;misrepresentation and misreporting&#8221; in the public space, criticizing claims that the Tinubu administration is on the verge of borrowing the full $21.5 billion at once.<\/p>\n<p>He said such narratives have fueled misinformed commentary from analysts and economic observers.<\/p>\n<p>The Presidency\u2019s clarification reflects a broader effort to enhance transparency and improve communication around Nigeria\u2019s debt strategy and public finance management.<\/p>\n<p>By stressing that the figures represent a borrowing plan-not a finalized debt-the administration seeks to manage public perception and encourage more informed debate around national development financing.<\/p>\n<p>The statement positions the government\u2019s approach to borrowing as deliberate and targeted, tied to clear developmental goals rather than reckless debt accumulation.<\/p>\n<p>It also signals a commitment to engaging the National Assembly and the public in the economic planning process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Patrick Idowu The Presidency has clarified the nature of the federal and state governments\u2019 proposed 2025-2026 external borrowing plan, stating that the $21.5 billion request submitted to the National Assembly does not represent an immediate or wholesale loan approval. In a statement released on Wednesday, Presidential Media Adviser Temitope Ajayi explained that the communication [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":66799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66800,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66798\/revisions\/66800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}