Senate accuses CBN of frustrating N30tn Ways and Means probe
The Senate ad hoc Committee investigating the Ways and Means facility provided to the Federal Government from 2015 to 2023 has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria of hindering its efforts to determine how the loans were utilised.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Isah Jibrin, made the allegation after receiving an interim report from its consultants during a meeting on Tuesday evening.
On February 20, the Senate decided to investigate how the N30tn Ways and Means loans from the CBN were obtained and used by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Ways and Means is a loan facility used by the CBN to cover the government’s budget deficits.
The Senate claimed that the reckless spending of the overdraft under the leadership of former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, significantly contributed to the food and security crises currently facing the country.
The Senate then agreed to form an ad hoc committee to examine how the N30tn overdraft was spent by the previous government, highlighting that the details of the spending had been intentionally withheld from the National Assembly.
Senator Jibrin alleged that the CBN had declined to provide the necessary documents to the consultants, hindering them from completing their task.
However, the Director of Banking Services and CBN representative, Hamisu Abdullahi, told the Senate panel that the central bank had provided all the requested documents.
But Jibrin said, “None of the documents was submitted to us. We will not allow you to attend the next meeting because you have been coming here for the same reason.
“The least person that will attend the next meeting should be a deputy governor of CBN. What you are telling us is not the truth. We have not received the documents. I don’t want to deceive the public here.”
Jibrin further stated that the goal of his committee was to produce a report as quickly as possible, but expressed frustration that their efforts were being hindered by the actions of the CBN.
He said, “The information we have here is not different from what we have had all along.
“What we did was to hand over the documents to the consultants, and when the consultants made available to us this interim report, our intention was to hold onto the interim report on the final report.
“We have now been compelled to make available this interim report to the general public so that they know that we let them know where the problem is.
“The problem is that the Central Bank of Nigeria has consistently denied us the documents that we need to complete this assignment. That is the truth. I was at the CBN sometimes, I met Bala the deputy governor and they promised but nothing came out of it.
“The clerk has been there several times. Nothing has come out of it.
The consultants themselves 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 this assignment has been hindered by the Central Bank of Nigeria. They will deny those documents. After this, you must avail us, or avail the consultants, all the documents that they require to complete this assignment.
“The reason for this meeting is to let everybody know why we have not been able to finish this assignment and it looks as if we have compromised. The answer is that we have not.”
He clarified that despite the challenges, the committee is committed to uncovering how the money was spent.
Senator Jibrin continued “We want to know how these monies were utilized. Okay? We want to know how these monies were utilized.
Preliminary reports show that there are major, major infractions, especially on the part of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“We want to defend that. We need all the documents without exception. Whatever documents the consultants need to ensure that this job is completed efficiently and as soon as possible, you must provide.
“As it is, we don’t have a choice but to give them a time within which they must provide all the documents to the consultants. You just have to make sure that the documents are sent to the consultants.
In his response, the CBN representative, Abdullahi, stated , “We provided a schedule showing a summary of Ways and Means, including both direct and indirect Ways and Means.
“That folder was sent to an email provided by this committee. There was an email provided, and we sent a reply to that email three times.
“We can resend that document as we speak here. So we have responded, and we are not aware of any document requested that we have not provided. If there is any document that has been requested and we have not provided it, please let us know. All the required documents are in that folder.”
