Lagos – A financial analyst, Mr Ikechukwu Unegbu says lack of understanding and trust may have been responsible for the delay in the speedy approval of the $30 billion sought by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Unegbu, former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers Association of Nigeria (CIBN) made the remarks in an interview on Thursday in Lagos.

According to him, understanding is the key since the Executive and the National Assembly members are major stakeholders in the Nigeria project.

He reiterated that quick approval of the $30 billion loan would have pulled the economy from recession.

“Both arms of government have the mandate of the people, so understanding each other at this period of austerity is the key by putting the interest of the masses first,” he said.

“The executive arm of government should learn to imbibe the culture of lobbing to enable most of its polices have less objections in the National Assembly.

“In my opinion, one of the issues delaying the approval of the loan is the issue of trust from the National Assembly members.

“Most members of the National Assembly are getting disturbed that the country will be in serious debt.

“They are scared that the economy will return to the era when the country’s debt profile rose to about $34 billion with no meaningful infrastructure to show for it.

“This prompted former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime to negotiate and the debt was written off by the creditors.”

He said the approval may take a long time if the Executive and the National Assembly failed to agree on the essence of the loan.

Buhari in his letter to the National Assembly sought approval for the $29.9 billion External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan.

Buhari stated that the loan would be used to address the infrastructure deficit in the health, education, water resources and other sectors.

Besides, he also sought the virement of N180.8 billion within the 2016 budget and provided a breakdown of items to which the fund would be allocated.

He said the projects in the borrowing plan were selected based on positive technical economic evaluations, as well as the contributions they would make to the socio-economic development of the country.

They include employment generation, poverty reduction, and protection of the nation’s vulnerable population.

Out of the $29.96 billion proposed financing, the Federal Government will take up 86.3 per cent, or $25.8 billion, while the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will account for the balance of $4.1 billion.

Besides the planned Eurobond, five multilateral institutions namely, the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Islamic Development Bank and China EximBank, are expected to provide the loan.