The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a $3.45 billion World Bank loan proposal to fund five projects.
According to Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, who spoke following the FEC meeting in Abuja on Monday.
He stated that the loan proposal was granted by the council during its meeting in the State House, and that the Federal Government would begin receiving the $3.5 billion “zero-interest” loan.
According to him, the debt is due in 40 years with a 10-year moratorium, so payments would begin in 2033.
“Today at the Federal Executive Council, I presented five memos which were gracefully approved by the Council. They had to do with concessional and, in many cases, zero-interest financing by the World Bank and the International Development Association, which is the very concessional financing arm,” he told State House Correspondents.
“The projects that were approved for funding were in the power sector and then the renewable energy sector. There was funding for states for resource mobilisation programmes to help them with the internally-generated revenue efforts.
“There was a project for adolescent girls’ initiative for learning and empowerment. And then finally the fifth financing that was approved was for Women project.”
He added: “So, those were five loans totalling $3.45bn. And as you know, the tenure is all around 40 years, with a moratorium period of around 10 years and interest very low, or in the cases of either loans, zero interest. However, some fees would be incurred.”
During the briefing, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, also said FEC approved the creation of a Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund.
The minister said the Fund will help the Federal Government respond promptly to humanitarian situations in Nigeria and that the government hopes to raise at least $5bn annually into it.