Senate probes Buhari’s Ways and Means Loan, cites food, security concerns

The Nigerian Senate has initiated an investigation into the N30 trillion Ways and Means loan obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The inquiry, announced on Tuesday, aims to uncover how the loan was acquired and spent, amid concerns about its potential impact on the country’s food and security situation.

The Senate’s resolutions on Tuesday followed the consideration of the report of its Joint Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Finance, National Planning, Agriculture and Appropriation on State of the Economy after interactive sessions held with the Federal Government economic management team.

But the consideration of the report during the plenary was stormy with accusations and counter-accusations by Senators on how the N22.7tn Ways and Means was passed by the 9th Senate in May 2023.

The lawmakers were also miffed by the passage of N7.2tn on December 30, 2023, by the 10th Senate.

Specifically, the Whip of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume (APC Borno South), in his contribution blamed the Senate for approving the request without details from former President Buhari.

Ndume said, “When the N22.7trn Ways and Means approval request was brought before the 9th Senate, I insisted that details of spending made with it should be provided before approval but the Senate then went ahead and approved it.”

However, the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, countered that the decision taken then was a collective one with the caveat that the executive should provide details later, which was however not provided.

In his defence, the former Senate President, Lawan, claimed that the Ways and Means was in the past and urged the Senate to focus on the present.

Read Also: Shettima advocates restructuring of Bank of Agriculture to achieve food security

Lawan said, “All of that is in the past, we must focus on the present which is the fact that people are hungry and they are crying. That’s what we should focus on.”

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said as recommended by the committee and supported by most of the Senators, a thorough probe must be carried out on the N22.7tn Ways and Means approved in May 2023 by the 9th Senate which later increased to N30trn, with the passage of the N7.2trn accrued interest forwarded to the senate for passage last December.

Akpabio said, “The food and security crises confronting the nation now are traceable to the way and manner the said Ways and Means were given collected and spent. Details of such spending must be submitted for required scrutiny and possible remedies because what Nigerians want is food on their table which must be given.”

Focus of the Probe:

The Senate resolution highlights two key areas of concern:

Transparency and Accountability: The Senate alleges that details of the loan’s spending were deliberately withheld from the National Assembly, raising questions about transparency and accountability.

Economic Impact: The resolution claims that the “reckless spending” of the loan contributed to the current food and security challenges faced by Nigeria.

The red chamber then resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate what the N30tn overdraft was spent on by the immediate past government, noting that the details of the spending were deliberately not made available to the National Assembly.

The ad-hoc committee which will be constituted on Wednesday (today) will also probe the N10tn expended on the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, the $2.4bn forex transaction out of the $7bn obligation made for that purpose as well as other intervention programmes.

The development came as biting food crisis, rising inflation, naira depreciation and worsening insecurity continue to take tolls on Nigerians.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now