Senator Isah Jibrin, who is leading the Senate panel investigating the N30 trillion Ways and Means loans obtained by the Federal Government from the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele, has reaffirmed that the investigation is still in progress and has not been abandoned.
Senator Jibrin clarified that reports suggesting the probe had been abandoned are completely untrue. In response to the ongoing food and security crises in the country, the Senate had resolved on Tuesday, February 20, to launch an investigation into the N30 trillion loan, citing concerns about the alleged irresponsible expenditure of the overdraft from the CBN.
Following its establishment, the Senate panel examining the loan acquired from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) identified 13 violations in the loan acquisition process.
In response to a media report, Senator Jibrin clarified that the numbers being investigated are not a subject of dispute. The Ways and Means advances provided to former President Muhammadu Buhari by Emefiele are already publicly known, and the panel is focusing on scrutinizing these transactions.
“We received some preliminary documents and decided to delve deeper after our interface with the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, the Minister of Finance, some CBN directors, and others. Following leads from our interface, we realized the need for a detailed, step-by-step breakdown of how the money was spent.
“We have written to the Accountant-General requesting additional documents on the Ways and Means loan, and we believe the delay is due to efforts to compile accurate information to avoid misleading us and Nigerians,” the panel chair said.
Senator Jibrin reaffirmed, “We have not gone into limbo; we only needed additional documents from the Accountant-General’s office to continue the interface. The amount under probe is N30tn. I don’t know why people are spreading falsehood to achieve a selfish purpose.”
“The committee was given a time frame that has elapsed but we cannot because of that submit a job done haphazardly. We have written reminders to the Accountant General Office and once we have the document, we move to the next phase of the probe.
It was reported that in December 2022, President Buhari sent a letter to the Ninth Assembly requesting the restructuring of the accumulated N22.7 trillion Ways and Means loans. Additionally, he requested an additional N1 trillion primarily to finance the N819.5 billion 2022 supplementary budget.
The total amount requested by President Buhari was N23.7 trillion. In his request, President Buhari provided an explanation stating that Ways and Means loans are advances granted by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the federal government for emergency funding in cases of delayed fiscal deficits. As of December 19, 2022, the outstanding balance of Ways and Means loans was N22.7 trillion.
“I have approved the securitization of these balances under the following terms: Amount, N23.7 trillion; Tenure, 40 years; Moratorium on principal repayment, three years; Interest rate, 9 per cent. Your concurrence and approval are sought to allow for the implementation of the same.”
After the Ninth Senate, led by Ahmad Lawan, passed the N23.7 trillion requested by President Buhari, the Tenth Senate followed suit on December 30, 2023.
They approved the securitization of the remaining debit balance of N7.3 trillion from the Ways and Means Advance. This securitization involved the transfer of the outstanding amount to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government.
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