Senate begins new investigation as AGF presents loan records totaling N30 trillion.
Additional documents have been sent by the Office of the Accountant General to the Senate panel that is investigating the N30tn Ways and Means loans that were secured by the Federal Government’s Central Bank of Nigeria, which is run by Godwin Emefiele.
After going over the paperwork, the panel will get back to meeting in person.
The committee penned a letter to the OAGF to show its growing concern over the controversial N30tn loan that the Muhammadu Buhari administration secured.
Speaking on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authorization to address the matter on Sunday, however, multiple sources verified that the documents arrived at the National Assembly on Thursday.
Our correspondent was informed by a Senate source that “the chairman and the members of the panel received the documents from the Office of the Accountant General regarding the probe of the N30tn Ways and Means on Thursday.”
Also, Senator Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East), who chairs the panel, confirmed the situation and said that the AGF had forwarded the paperwork to the National Assembly.
“Yes, we have distributed the documents from the AGF to all panel members,” he pointed out. We intend to resume in-person gatherings by next week after we have finished studying it.
“Nigerians can rest assured that we will ensure due diligence and ensure we do not let them down,” said the president. “Nothing can hold us back,” I remarked earlier, “because we had never stopped working on the probe; we just needed more documents.”
The current food and security challenges in the country were largely caused by the alleged irresponsible expenditure of the N30tn loan, according to the Senate’s resolution on Tuesday, February 20.
The panel, shortly after its establishment, found thirteen violations that were purportedly committed when the loan was being obtained from the CBN.
Nevertheless, the committee was left in a state of uncertainty upon discovering that the Ways and Means loans authorised by Emefiele amounted to approximately N7tn, contrary to the Senate’s assertion of N30tn.
Jibrin responded to the news article by stating unequivocally that the amounts being investigated were not in question.
With the letter proof in hand, Jibrin declared, “We have not gone into limbo; we only needed additional documents from the Accountant-General’s office to continue the interface.” The sum being investigated is N30tn. I fail to comprehend why individuals are propagating lies in order to further their own agendas.
With the headline ‘Request for Submission of Additional Information’ and the date of June 19, 2024, Jibrin signed the letter.
The reorganisation of the accrued N22.7 trillion Ways and Means loans, together with an extra N1 trillion mainly for financing the N819.5 billion 2022 supplemental budget, amounting to N23.7 trillion, was asked by President Buhari in a letter dated December 20, 2022.
To address the delayed budget shortfalls, President Buhari requested emergency money through “The Ways and Means,” which are advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria to the federal government. The N22.7tn balance was recorded on December 19, 2022.
The following conditions are in place for the securitization of these balances, which I have approved: Loan amount: N23.7tn; payback period: 40 years; interest rate: 9%; principal repayment moratorium: 3 years. In order to move forward with the implementation, we kindly ask for your permission and agreement.
On December 30, 2023, the Tenth Senate also gave President Bola Tinubu the go-ahead to securitize the remaining N7.3tn debt balance from the Ways and Means Advance in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government. This came after the Ahmad-Lawan-led Ninth Senate had already passed the N23.7 trillion.