By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
Senators yesterday lamented Nigeria’s current social and economic crises and blamed it on the borrowing culture of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, which they described as reckless.
The Upper Chamber expressed their disappointment during a debate on the report of the Joint Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions (BIOFI) Finance; National Planning; Agriculture and Appropriation.
The panel’s report is on its member’s interaction with the Federal Government Economic Management Team on the state of the economy.
The interactive session was held last week.
The report was read by Senator Aetokunbo Abiru, Chairman, Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions who was Co- chairman of the Committee.
The Committee in its report frowned at the monetary policies under Buhari especially the Ways and Means Advances, which it maintained instigated the current inflationary pressures on the nation’s economy.
Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume in his contribution, said details of the Ways and Means Advances were not presented to the Ninth National Assembly for proper scrutiny.
He referred his colleagues to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended, which states that the National Assembly has no power to review expenditures made after approval, by ministries, agencies, and departments of government.
He said, “Mr President, I was not part of the plenary that gave the nod for Ways and Means but the details of funds spent were not provided. This is illegal.”
Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin who incidentally was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation in the Ninth Senate, corroborated Ndume’s submissions.
He also said that details of the expenses were not made available to the Parliament.
He said, “It was approved for an emergency, when they were brought, it was due to an emergency. They told us that it was urgent. We said we are going to pass it but that they must bring the details which they never did.”
*Ex-Senate President Lawan: Probe won’t serve any useful purpose, says Ninth Senate only approved N20trn
President of the Ninth Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who led the National Assembly to approve the alleged illegal expenditures, however, expressed strong reservations about the lawmakers’ stance to investigate the Ways and Means Advances.
He clarified that the Senate under his leadership approved N22trn, not N30trn which the report of the joint 10th Senate Committee stated.
The former Senate President claimed that the probe of the Ways and Means advances would not serve any useful purpose.
He insisted that what was paramount in the minds of Nigerians was how to put food on their table.
He said, “There is nothing that the National Assembly can’t review afresh. If sanctions are necessary, we can go ahead.
“What the 9th NASS approved was N22trn, in terms of Ways and Means Advances. It wasn’t N30trn. We also approved N819bn for infrastructure. If we had a Ways and Means that was N30trn that means something happened. So, if the figure we have today is N30tn, then we must investigate it.
“However, what Nigerians want today is food and security. So, let’s concentrate on what is urgent, which is the report of the Joint Committee on Agriculture. In the immediate term, what bothers Nigerians is how to put food on their tables.”
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, however, noted that the nation was experiencing economic challenges because of illegal financial transactions undertaken by the previous administrations.
He said, “We are where we are today as a result of illegal things and I think details of Ways and Means must be provided.”
Apart from the Ways and Means advances, the Red Chamber also resolved to investigate other interventions such as the N10trn Anchors Borrowers Programme financed by the CBN.
The joint Committee recommendations read in part, “The government should prioritize liquidating the N30trn Ways and Means obligation of the federal government through a quicker resolution mechanism than the current securitization arrangement over 40 years.
“In addition, the CBN should put in place measures to ensure the repayment of various intervention programmes by the beneficiaries after a thorough evaluation of their performance. These will help reduce the money supply.
“Also, the ‘quasi-fiscal measures totalling N10trn of which the Anchor Borrower programmer is a major part should be further interrogated by the Committee. This is to plug loopholes in future development finance activities of the Bank.
“To promote fiscal discipline, the Senate urged the Tinubu administration to reduce government expenditure to lower fiscal deficits and promote fiscal sustainability.
“In this connection, exchange gains from naira depreciation should be used to wind down government deficits at all levels rather than expand the size of the budget.
“The Federal Government should provide interventions in the area of food and transportation to alleviate the suffering of vulnerable Nigerians and mitigate the impact of economic challenges.”
The Ninth Senate generally referred to as an “absolute rubber stamp chamber” under Ahmad Lawan, had approved the request by former President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the N22.7trn loans the apex bank extended to the Federal Government under its Ways and Means Advances.
