President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to approve a fresh ₦1.15 trillion domestic loan to help bridge the 2025 budget deficit, even as the upper chamber initiated a sweeping probe into railway projects executed under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a letter read during Tuesday’s plenary by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu said the new borrowing aligns with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, and is necessary to close an unfunded deficit gap created by the National Assembly’s expansion of the 2025 budget to ₦59.9 trillion.
“I write to kindly request the approval of the National Assembly to borrow ₦1.15 trillion from the domestic debt market to close the unfunded deficit gap,” the President’s letter read in part.
Akpabio referred the request to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, chaired by Senator Aliyu Wammako (APC, Sokoto North), for review within one week.
Meanwhile, the naira appreciated at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market on Tuesday, closing at ₦1,433.65 per dollar, stronger than ₦1,436.34 recorded the previous day, despite renewed geopolitical tensions following Donald Trump’s warning over alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
Nigeria is also expected to issue $2.3 billion in Eurobonds this week, with tenors ranging between 10 and 30 years, pending final clearance from the Ministry of Justice. Analysts say the move reflects improved investor sentiment toward Nigeria’s debt market.
At the same time, the Senate launched a full-scale investigation into all railway projects undertaken during the Buhari administration, following persistent derailments, vandalism, and technical failures on the Itakpe–Warri standard gauge line.
The probe, initiated through a motion by Senator Ede Dafinone (Delta Central), will examine project funding, contract execution, and compliance with engineering standards. Lawmakers expressed outrage that multi-billion-naira rail lines completed under Buhari were already failing.
Senate President Akpabio, in a fiery address, condemned what he called “a legacy of deceit and incompetence” in the Buhari-era projects, vowing that the Senate would “dig deep, expose corruption, and hold those responsible to account.”
“You spend trillions on rail lines, commission them, and within a year they begin to fail. Nigerians deserve to know whether these were new lines or refurbished scraps,” Akpabio declared.
The Senate also empowered its Committee on Land Transport to conduct an on-the-spot inspection of the affected routes and submit a technical report within six weeks.
Meanwhile, hundreds of indigenous contractors under the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN) stormed the National Assembly complex, protesting unpaid debts estimated at ₦760 billion. They alleged that the federal government prioritizes payments to foreign contractors while neglecting local firms.
The protests, alongside the loan request and the Senate’s new probe, underscore the economic and political pressures confronting the Tinubu administration as it seeks to stabilize Nigeria’s finances and restore investor confidence.
