The Senate Committee investigating the N30 trillion Ways and Means loans obtained by the Federal Government from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Godwin Emefiele’s leadership says it has obtained additional documentation from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).
The panel had previously requested supplementary documents from the OAGF to further its probe and scrutinize the loan more extensively.
According to several sources who requested anonymity due to a lack of authorization to disclose the information, the documents in question arrived at the National Assembly on Thursday.
“The documents from the Office of the Accountant General regarding the probe of the N30trn Ways and Means came on Thursday; the documents have been given to the chairman and the members of the panel,” a senate source disclosed.
In addition to confirming the development, the Chairman of the Panel, Sen. Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East), stated that the AGF had sent the documents to the National Assembly.
He said: “Yes, the documents have come from the AGF and have been distributed to all panel members. At the moment, we are all studying it, and once that is concluded, we will resume physical meetings, hopefully by next week.
“Nigerians can be assured that we will ensure due diligence and see that we do not let them down.
“Like I earlier said, we had never stopped working on the probe; we just needed more documents, and now that we have them, nothing can hold us back.”
Persecondnews recalls that the Senate on February 20 voted to launch an investigation into the N30 trillion loan, citing concerns that the alleged reckless borrowing from the CBN has significantly contributed to the current economic and security challenges, including food insecurity, facing the nation.
Following its formation, the investigative panel discovered 13 alleged violations and irregularities in the process of securing the N30 trillion loan from the CBN, which are now under scrutiny.
However, contrary to the Senate’s initial claim of N30 trillion, a media report (not Persecondnews) revealed that the committee put its investigation on hold after learning that the Ways and Means loans approved under Godwin Emefiele’s leadership amounted to approximately N7 trillion.
Responding to the media report, Jibrin clarified that the figures in question were not in dispute.
Jibrin stated, “We have not gone into limbo; we only needed additional documents from the Accountant-General’s office to continue the interface,” presenting proof of the letter he sent to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The amount under probe is N30tn. I don’t know why people are spreading falsehoods to achieve a selfish purpose.”
Senator Jibrin signed the letter, dated June 19, 2024, with the title, “Request for Submission of Additional Information.”
According to Persecondnews, during the 9th Assembly, then-President Buhari requested the restructuring of the accumulated Ways and Means loans, which stood at N22.7 trillion, plus an additional N1 trillion to fund the N819.5 billion 2022 supplemental budget, bringing the total amount to N23.7 trillion.
In his request, Buhari explained: “The Ways and Means are advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria to the federal government for emergency funding due to delayed fiscal deficits. As of December 19, 2022, the balance of Ways and Means was N22.7tn.
“I have approved the securitization of these balances under the following terms: Amount: N23.7tn; tenure: 40 years; moratorium on principal repayment: three years; interest rate: 9 percent. Your concurrence and approval are sought to allow for the implementation of the same.”
Following the Ninth Senate’s approval of the N23.7 trillion restructuring under Senator Ahmad Lawan’s leadership, the Tenth Senate subsequently granted approval on December 30, 2023, for President Tinubu’s administration to secure the remaining N7.3 trillion Ways and Means Advance balance in the FG’s Consolidated Revenue Fund, converting it into a tradeable security.