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By Nasir Kura
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved an additional $6.8 million loan to be obtained from the African Development Bank (AfDB), Minister of Finance, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, said on Wednesday.
The minister said this while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
She said the loan is meant to finance inclusive Basic Service Delivery and Livelihood Empowerment Integrated Programme for the rebuilding of the Northeast zone of the country.
“I presented a memo seeking the approval of council for additional financing, the sum of $6.8 million sought as a loan from AfDB to finance inclusive basic service delivery and livelihood empowerment integrated programme for the rebuilding of the North-east.
“There was a previous facility which included coverage of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe States, and some specific institutions were beneficiaries. But there is a federal science and technology college in Lassa, Borno State that was one of the beneficiaries. But because of insurgency, it suffered severely. It could not be carried out because of the activities of insurgents.
“Now, what we are trying to do is to go back to the projects, to this particular institution to make sure we are able to rehabilitate the institution and also undertake a complete skill, training and educational project that will mitigate against the challenges that the institution has had,” she said.
She said the facility was a concessionary loan with an interest rate of one per cent and payable over a 30-year period with five years moratorium.
