POWER SUPPLY; FG to take $170m french loan

Federal Executive Council on Wednesday ratified an anticipatory approval given by President Goodluck Jonathan to the Ministry of Finance to borrow $170m from the French Development Agency.

The loan is meant to beef up power infrastructure in the Federal Capital Territory.

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, and the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, which was presided over by Jonathan.

Okonjo-Iweala said the loan, which would be used to undertake the construction of 270-kilometre transmission lines and additional substations within the FCT, was one of the agreements that were signed when the French President, Francois Hollande, visited the country for the centenary celebration last week.

She said, “It is a $170m soft credit. The terms include 1.56 per cent interest rate per annum; commitment charge of 0.5 per cent per annum; and then, a service charge of 0.25 per cent per annum payable on the amount withdrawn.

“The loan is for 20 years with a seven-year grace period; that means, moratorium on payment for seven years; and the rest payable over 20 years.“This project has been approved in the borrowing plan since 2010; but after it was approved, it was shelved until we asked the French Development Agency to renew it and fast-track it, and that is how we came to approve that today.”

by Baggins 11:50 AM

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he told Manchester United to put a £150m price tag on Cristiano Ronaldo’s head in 2009 – and believes Real Madrid would have paid it, Soccernet reports. The Portuguese winger became the most expensive player in football history when he joined the Spanish club for 80 million pounds but Ferguson believes United could have brought in almost twice as much money. And he is convinced Real president Florentino Perez would have paid such a staggering sum to take the current World Player of the Year to the Bernabeu and remains disappointed that former United chief executive David Gill ignored his advice. “I told David Gill to ask for £150m. Perez would have paid,” Ferguson is quoted by AS as telling the player’s official digital fan magazine, CR7. “The only thing that hurt me, and I said this repeatedly to David Gill, was that we didn’t demand enough. “I told David, ‘Ask for £150m.’ He said, ‘Don’t be silly. They’ll never pay 150m.’

by Baggins 9:59 AM