The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari (photo) has written to the National Assembly to seek for approval to issue an additional $500 million Eurobond to fund capital projects in the 2017 budget. This was revealed during a Senate session on Wednesday.

The leader’s demand follows the oversubscription of a similar bond worth $1B approved earlier this year by the Senate, also to finance budget.

Last month, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, also asked the parliament to approve the issuance of a new $500 million Eurobond to plug the $7billion deficit in the budget. “We wish to take advantage of favorable market conditions to issue a Eurobond Debt Instrument of $500 million to fund the implementation of the budget,” Osinbajo said.

Nigeria, it should be recalled, is in talks to acquire at least a $1billion loan from the World Bank and the African Development bank to fund the budget deficit.

Buhari in this year’s budget outlined plans to spend $22.5 billion to get a recession-battered economy back up.

Anita Fatunji