Nigerian parliament approves $1 bn loan to fight Boko Haram

Lagos, Oct 23: The Nigerian House of Representatives on Wednesday approved President Goodluck Jonathan's request to borrow not more than one billion dollars to tackle the security challenges facing the country.

On Sep 25, the Nigerian Senate had approved the request made by the Nigerian leader to borrow the amount to tackle the national security challenges, Xinhua reported.

The lower chamber, however, summoned the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to appear before its committees on aids, loans, debt management and finance, and provide them with information regarding the terms and conditions of the loan.

The lawmakers also requested the National Security Adviser (NSA) to provide them with the breakdown of allocations that were appropriated to the Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Department of State Service (DSS) and Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

Nigerian Senate had approved the request made by President

The decisions were reached during the consideration of the report from Rep. Adeyinka Ajayi led committees on aids, loans, debt management and finance, after recommendation by the joint committees' report.

In July, President Jonathan sought the National Assembly approval to borrow 1 billion dollars to fight Boko Haram.

In a letter addressed to the Senate President, David Mark, the Nigerian leader spoke about the need for external borrowing to enable the upgrade of security equipment in order to fight the insurgency that is currently bedeviling Nigeria, particularly the North East.

He said the loan will also be used to train the military and other security officers.

The external borrowing comes amid criticisms and questions of the management of Nigeria's defense budget, which gulps as much as 20 percent of the entire budget.

IANS