The Nigerian Senate has on Wednesday approved N10bn loan refund for Kogi State.
The approval by however met resistance by Senators from opposition party. The Senators questioned the timing of the approval of the loan.
Minority Leader Senator Enyinaya Abaribe who spoke on behalf of the opposition lawmakers asked the Senate to delay the approval until next week when the Kogi State governorship election holding on Saturday would have been concluded.
“There is no harm in approving this money. Let the approval be delayed by just a week. What I don’t want is the misuse of these funds because it is for the people of the Kogi State. This is not the right time, this is the time where the exigencies of the moment may be used”, Abaribe said.
However, Senate President Ahmed Lawan disagreed, saying the loan request for Kogi state came in the 8th assembly and has been delayed enough.
“Kogi State applied for this in the last Senate, all the other states were paid. Kogi was not approved at that time, we as a Senate has seen as a necessity and it is a coincidence,” Lawan said.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier in October this year, sent a letter to the Senate, seeking approval for the payment of N10 billion to settle local debts incurred by Kogi State government as a result of the projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government.