By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
Stakeholders in the nation’s economic sector have urged the Senate to invite Jim Obazee, the Special Investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu, to investigate the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and others.
Obazee had since concluded his investigation and submitted his report to President Bola Tinubu, but the details had not been made public.
The Senate Ad-hoc Committee probing the Ways and Means facilities granted to the Federal Government between 2015 and 2023 has also recently lamented that officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria have not been cooperating with it by refusing to make necessary documents available.
The Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Senator Isah Jibrin, specifically alleged that the CBN was frustrating his panel’s efforts to uncover how the loans were spent.
He made the allegation after receiving an interim report from its consultants at a meeting on Tuesday evening.
He had said the CBN refused to make relevant documents available to the consultants so that they could complete their assignments.
However, the CBN representative, Mallam Hamisu Abdullahi, the Director of Banking Services, told the Senate panel that the apex bank provided all the requested documents.
Jibrin countered the CBN official’s claims by saying that “the consultants engaged by the committee even took it upon themselves to go with CBN directly because we introduced them to CBN, and nothing has come out of it.”
“So let the Nigerian public know that the Central Bank of Nigeria has hindered this assignment,” he said.
In separate interviews over the weekend, a cross-section of Nigerians in the economic sector asked the Senate to contact Obazee and work with him since he had carried out the same assignment.
A banker, John Okechukwu, expressed disappointment with the frustration faced by the Senate panel.
He said, “Since a federal government panel had carried out the same assignment, the Senate panel is currently doing.”
Similarly, a chartered accountant, Clement Fabiyi, responded to the development and urged the Chairman of the Senate panel to invite Obazee for necessary information and collaboration.
President Tinubu appointed Obazee the Special Investigator on July 28, 2023, to probe the country’s CBN, related entities, and other key Government Business Entities (GBE).
The appointment is rooted in Section 15(5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, which responsibilities him and his team to investigate and block leakages in CBN and others and provide the President with a comprehensive report on public wealth currently in the hands of corrupt individuals and establishments (whether private or public).
