Oscarline Onwuemenyi
14 January 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja — The Federal government has announced the approval of a $200 million loan from a World Bank agency to develop infrastructure in Lagos state.
The Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who stated this to journalists in Abuja, said the loan was the second tranche of a total of $600 million lent by the International Development Association to the Nigeria government for Lagos state since 2010.
Lagos, a mega-city of 21 million people, is the commercial engine of Africa’s biggest economy. Its gross domestic product accounts for about a third of Nigeria’s overall GDP.
Fashola, who did not give details of any projects for which the loan would be used, said the money had been intended for distribution in three tranches each of $200 million to end in 2013 but had been delayed.
“It suffered delays as a result of partisan political differences in the last dispensation. After the first tranche was disbursed there was a freeze on the second tranche,” he told reporters.
Fashola said the loan was to be repaid over 25 years at an interest rate of 2.5 percent.
