The Senate has given the Federal Government fresh conditions upon which it would consider and approve its $5.8 billion loan request from the China Exim Bank.
The comes as the upper legislative chamber has summoned Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi to explain why the Eastern Corridor of the country’s rail lines was excluded from the proposed loan.
He is to appear before the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, currently considering the loan request.
While considering a motion moved by Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia State) at Tuesday plenary, the upper legislative chamber upheld the argument of the lawmaker that there was no reason why the South East should be excluded from the rail project for which the loan was sought.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in April sent a letter to National Assembly seeking approval of $5.851 billion external loan for the upgrade of
standard guage lines from Lagos-Kano, Kano-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan and Lagos Calabar.
Abaribe in his motion requested the Senate to suspend consideration of the loan request until the Federal Government included the South East as beneficiaries in the project.
However, the President of the Senate submitted that the leadership of the National Assembly had already identified the anomalies and had taken it up with the executive.
Saraki said that the executive had taken note of the issues and agreed to reach a resolution with the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts on the matter.
He stressed that it was only when the committee submits its report and the South East was not captured that there would be need to take the action being requested by the senator.
Abaribe in his motion, expressed with dismay, why the government wanted to take such a huge loan that would benefit all other regions apart from the South East.
He said that the loan would be paid back by all sections of the country and as such all sections should be carried along.
He said: “There is railway master plan developed by the Ministry of Transport and of which such plan has not been referred to in the current borrowing plan.
“For the railway project to have a meaningful impact on the development of the country, it should cover all parts of Nigeria.
“Therefore the exclusion of the Eastern section that links the four zones of the South-South, South-East, North-Central and North-East and the Key cities such as Port-Harcourt, Aba, Enugu, Makurdi, Lafia, Gudi, Jos, Bauchi and Maiduguri is inexplicable”.
Contributing to the motion, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu submitted that since the whole country would pay for the loan, the loan should be beneficial to all.
Speaking against the motion, Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport Gbenga Ashafa argued that government was a continuum as as such the South East could still be captured in future projects.

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End Time govt..