By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Senate yesterday constituted an ad-hoc committee to investigate the disbursement and usage of the N30trn Ways and Means loan advances which the Central Bank of Nigeria made available to the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari.
The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibirin who presided over the plenary, announced the composition of the special committee.
Barau said the ad-hoc committee will be chaired by Jibirin Isah, the senator representing Kogi East Senatorial District.
He directed the committee to report back to the Senate within four weeks.
The Senate had last week, resolved to probe the N30trn CBN advances to the Buhari administration when Godwin Emefiele was the head of the apex financial institution.
The Deputy Senate President alleged that the Ways and Means loan was one of the major factors that caused inflation and the high cost of living in the country.
He explained that if such huge advances remain unpaid, they will continue to appear on the balance sheet of the CBN.
He urged members of the ad-hoc committee to conduct a proper investigation into the issue to recover funds not appropriately disbursed.
Barau said, “According to statistics, broad money supply, which is a key parameter for key inflationary trends, increased from N78.3trn to N78.4trn in 2023. The highest ever recorded in Nigeria.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Ways and Means which provides direct lending to the federal government of Nigeria causes unprecedented liquidity in the economy and the current inflationary pressure that we are experiencing.
“The financial obligation to the CBN now stands at N30trn. The inability to repay this temporary accommodation by the federal government of Nigeria led to the regularisation of a 40-year loan at 9 percent interest per annum.
“By implication, this debt will appear in the balance sheet of CBN for the next 40 years until liquidated. It is therefore imperative to interrogate the loans of the N30 trillion Ways and Means with a possibility of recovering whatever possible” he added.
Members of the committee are, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola; Ekpeyong Asuquo (APC, Cross River North); Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno North); Victor Umeh (LP, Anambra Central).
Others are Aliyu Wadada (SDP, Nasarawa West), Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) and Ipalibo Harry (Rivers West).
