Foreign loan: Senate gives MDAs ultimatum to defend requests

Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government have been found culpable of frustrating efforts of the Senate to process and approve foreign loan requests.

The MDAs were accused of failing to appear before the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts to defend their various requests.

Consequently, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan gave the affected MDAs a week ultimatum to appear before the Senator Clifford Ordia -led committee to submit their loan requests unfailingly

Sen. Ordia (Edo Central) had alerted the Senate of the failure of some ministries and agencies of government to honour the invitation of his committee to brief it on the state of their loan requests.

The committee chairman was asked to furnish the Senate with the names of the MDAs that have failed to appear before the committee to present their loan requests on Tuesday.

Sen. Ordia gave the names of erring MDAs to include ministries of power, Niger delta, humanitarian and disaster management, water, resources, health, communication and agriculture.

Responding, the President of the Senate said that “let me advice because you have come under (Order 43) personal explanation which is not open to debate, but let me advise that this Senate is open to debate critical issues of national importance to ensure that such important issues like the foreign loan requests to with the executive needs to be treated with seriousness by both sides.

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“The Senate is making every possible effort to understand why the loan request. Therefore, we need details; we need information so that we can take the appropriate decisions as quickly as possible.

“So, I would ask those ministries that have not appeared before his committee to do so between now and Monday next week.

“So, I believe that this is an advice that should be taken very serious by the agencies that have failed to appear before the committee to submit their loan requests.”

Lawan thereafter, gave the committee a minimum of two weeks to submit its report to the Senate for consideration.