President Muhammadu Buhari will resubmit the request for his administration to borrow $29.96bn from external sources to the Senate despite the setback the borrowing plan suffered at the upper legislative chamber on Tuesday.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Mohammed said the administration would continue to engage the senators on the benefits of the borrowing plan.

He expressed optimism that at the end of the day, the lawmakers would see reason and approve the President’s request.

The minister said, “It is not unusual for the government and the Senate to have some disagreements; they (senators) want more information. We will continue to engage them. We will give them all the information they need.

“We are sure that by the time we finish, they will approve the request.”

The Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, had on Tuesday explained that senators voted against Buhari’s request for the $29.9bn foreign loan due to technical issues.

Briefing newsmen shortly after plenary, Ndume, who said that he was shocked that the request suffered such a setback, expressed optimism that the issues would be resolved and the request would be represented by the Executive.