Umeh questions Tinubu’s new loan request: “What are you doing with the money?”

Senator Umeh has questioned President Bola Tinubu’s request for approval to borrow an additional $20.5 billion and €1.45 billion, Channels Television reported. Speaking on the station’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday, Umeh argued that earlier borrowing requests were justified on the grounds that the funds would finance government budgets, yet contractors were still owed for capital projects.

“The truth is that we have approved so much funds to be borrowed in the past, and on each occasion we’ve been told that this borrowing would be able to fund the budgets and these budgets have remained unfunded up till this day,” Umeh said. Umeh also suggested the request would eventually receive legislative approval, arguing that opposition lawmakers would be outvoted by members of the ruling party.

Tinubu wrote to the National Assembly seeking approval for the Federal Government’s 2026–2027 supplementary external borrowing plan. The government says the loans would fund critical infrastructure, agriculture, education and other key sectors of the economy.