The House of Representatives on Tuesday constituted an eight-man ad-hoc committee to look into the request by President Bola Tinubu to borrow about 800 million dollars to finance social safety net by the government.
The Committee headed by the House Leader, Prof Julius Ihonvbare is made up of Principal Officers of the House.
The President, had in a letter read on the floor of the House by the Speaker requested approval of additional financing of the national social safety net programme.
The President’s letter said,
“Please note that the Federal Executive Council led by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR (“FEC”) approved an additional loan facility to the tune of USD800,000,000 (Eight Hundred Million United States Dollars) to be secured from the World Bank for the National Social Safety Net Programme (the “Programme”)
“You may also wish to note that the purpose of the facility is to expand coverage of shock responsive safety net support for poor and vulnerable Nigerians and to help them cope with the cost of meeting basic needs.
“You may further wish to note that under the conditional cash transfer window of the Programme, the Federal Government of Nigeria will transfer the sum of N8,000 per month to 12,000,000 (twelve million) poor and low income households for a period of 6 (six) months with a multiplier effect on about 60,000,000 (sixty million) individuals.
“In order to guarantee the credibility of the process, digital transfers will be made directly to beneficiaries’ account and mobile wallets. It is expected that the Programme will stimulate economic activity in the informal sector and improve nutrition, health and education outcomes for beneficiary households.
“Given the above, I wish to invite the House of Representatives to kindly grant approval for the additional loan facility of USD800,000,000.00 (Eight. Hundred Million United States Dollars) to be secured from the World Bank for the National Social Safety Net Programme”.
While the Senate had already approved the loan as requested by the President, the House ad-hoc committee is expected to consider the request.
Deputy Speaker of the House who presided over plenary on Tuesday said the ad-hoc committee was going to consider the request in other to speed it up.
Other members of the Committee are House Leader, Julius Ihonvbare, Deputy House Leader, Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims, Chief Whip, Usman Bello Kumo, Deputy Chief Whip, Adewumi Onanuga, Minority Leader, Kingsley China, Deputy Minority Leader Ali Isa JC, Minority Whip; Hon. Ali Madaki and Deputy George Ozodinobi.