‘NASS Must Not Approve A Single Dollar’, Atiku Tells Tinubu To Publish Loan Details

President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to approve a large package of external loans: $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion. Atiku says lawmakers should not approve any part of it until Nigerians can see exactly how the money will be used. The dispute is about transparency before borrowing begins.

Atiku wants the government to publish every project linked to the loans, along with its location, contract, cost and contractor. He also demands the terms of each loan and the repayment obligations. He argues that naming only broad sectors does not show what the borrowing will fund.

The request now faces scrutiny in the National Assembly. Atiku says no lawmaker should sign a “blank cheque” against Nigeria’s future. He also questions the inland rerouting of the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway and asks whether borrowed funds could benefit political campaigners or favoured contractors.

The proposed borrowing is $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion. Because the amounts use different currencies, they should not be added as though both were dollars or both were euros. A single combined total requires an exchange rate, which the article does not provide. The scale is already clear from the dollar component alone.

Atiku had warned on October 12 that Tinubu might seek up to $20 billion connected with the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway. The new request is slightly above that dollar warning and adds more than one billion euros. These are proposed loans, not money the article says has already been borrowed.

The figures therefore show a very large potential increase in Nigeria’s external obligations. Atiku wants lawmakers to examine the projects and repayment duties before approval. Without project-level information, he argues, the size of the request cannot be properly judged against its intended benefits.

Nigeria’s National Assembly is the country’s federal legislature. It consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The article focuses on the Senate because Tinubu asked it to approve the proposed external loans. Legislative approval gives elected lawmakers a formal role in examining major government borrowing.

External borrowing creates obligations that can affect public finances beyond the government that requests it. In established constitutional practice, lawmakers review borrowing proposals so they can question their purpose, size and repayment terms. The article does not provide the detailed legal procedure, but it clearly presents Senate approval as the required decision point.

Atiku wants that decision delayed until the supporting documents are public. He says lawmakers should examine every project, contract, cost, contractor, loan term and repayment obligation. The next step described is therefore scrutiny by the National Assembly, rather than immediate approval of the requested amounts.

Atiku’s demand is for enough detail to show exactly where every borrowed dollar and euro would go. He says the government must publish every project, contract, cost, contractor, loan term and repayment obligation. He also criticises the absence of clear project locations. His central point is that broad sectors do not provide meaningful public accountability.

For example, he says the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway has been rerouted inland. He wants the government to explain the project’s details and costs, rather than leave the public to assess it through general infrastructure categories. The mechanism is disclosure: specific documents would let lawmakers and citizens compare planned work with proposed spending.

Atiku says the National Assembly must make the proposal and its supporting documents public and subject them to rigorous scrutiny. Until that happens, he wants lawmakers to reject approval. He particularly questions whether the highway could channel borrowed money to Tinubu’s campaigners and favoured contractors.

An external loan is borrowing obtained from outside a country, commonly from foreign governments, international institutions or overseas financial markets. Money raised inside Nigeria is domestic borrowing, usually obtained from lenders operating within the country. The article does not identify Tinubu’s specific lenders, but it labels the proposed borrowing external and gives the amounts in dollars and euros.

That currency detail is a concrete sign of the proposal’s international character. Tinubu requested approval for $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion. The difference matters because foreign-currency loans can create repayment duties in currencies different from much government revenue. The article, however, does not state the lenders, interest rates or exchange-rate arrangements.

Atiku wants those loan terms and repayment obligations published before approval. His concern is that the public cannot properly assess the borrowing without knowing its conditions and intended projects. The National Assembly is therefore being asked to examine the external proposal before Nigeria accepts additional debt.

When a government borrows, it must later repay the principal, meaning the amount borrowed, plus interest charged by lenders. Those payments become future budget commitments. More debt can therefore reduce the room available for new projects or public services, especially when repayments rise. The article focuses on this concern by referring to repayment obligations and Nigeria’s future.

For example, the proposed package includes $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion. If approved, the government would need to meet the loans’ terms over time. The article does not state the interest rates, repayment schedule or exact budget effect, so the financial burden cannot be calculated from the available information. Atiku nevertheless calls for those obligations to be disclosed.

The forward issue is whether the borrowed money produces enough public value to justify its cost. Atiku says lawmakers must test that question before approval. He warns against borrowing “in the dark,” because later budgets and taxpayers could carry commitments whose purposes and conditions were not fully scrutinised.

Legislative approval, disclosure and independent scrutiny create checks before public debt is taken on. Lawmakers can question whether proposed projects are real, necessary and fairly priced. Citizens can also see what government plans to fund. This matters because large infrastructure loans can bind future budgets long after the original decision.

The article gives a specific example in the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway. Atiku questions its inland rerouting and asks whether it could become a channel for borrowed funds to reach campaigners and favoured contractors. Publishing the project, contract, cost and contractor would allow those claims and spending plans to be examined rather than hidden behind broad sector labels.

Atiku wants the National Assembly to make the proposal and supporting documents public and subject them to rigorous scrutiny. He says approval should wait until every loan term and repayment obligation is available. The immediate implication is a demand for transparent review before lawmakers decide whether the borrowing serves Nigeria or political interests.