THE Senate has set up an ad-hoc committee to probe the N30 trillion Ways and Means loans of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN obtained under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The probe committee, inaugurated on Monday, March 11, was also tasked with looking into the Anchor Borrowers’ Program that Buhari’s administration ran.
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The president of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, stated during the occasion on Monday in Abuja that the probe panel is important since it is tasked with looking into the methods and means, including the Anchor Borrowers’ Program.
The committee was established in response to a report by joint committees on national planning, appropriations, banking, insurance, and other financial institutions, finance, and agriculture, produced following discussions with the federal government’s economic management team.
The ICIR reported that despite sanctioning the approval, the Senate on Tuesday, February 20, resolved to probe the N30 trillion Ways and Means loan obtained by the administration of Buhari from (CBN).
The upper chamber has, as a result, constituted an ad hoc committee to interrogate disbursement and usage of the loan.
The Senate President, Akpabio, announced the resolution after most senators supported it through voice votes.
Chairman of the joint committee, Abdullahi Abubakar, who presented the report, explained that the violation of the ways and means of debt caused the current economic hardship.
Abubakar, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator representing Kebbi North, advised the Federal Government to settle the N30 trillion debt.
The lawmaker also urged the CBN to ensure repayment of various intervention programmes and loans to reduce the money supply.
Ways and Means is a loan facility through which the Central Bank of Nigeria finances the Federal Government’s budget shortfalls.
During the plenary, lawmakers blamed the leadership of the immediate past Senate, led by Ahmad Lawan, for approving such tremendous advances by the federal government.
In his defence, the immediate past Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said his leadership approved N23 trillion for the ways and means, not N30 trillion.
He, however, urged his colleagues to investigate the approval and disbursement of funds under the ways and means.
The ICIR reported at different times how the CBN violated lending to the Federal Government by exceeding the threshold stipulated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
There were concerns over failed oversight by the senators who sanctioned the approval without following what the Fiscal Responsibility Act said.
Ways and Means is a loan facility through which the CBN finances the government’s budget shortfalls.
A reporter with the ICIR
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