The Senate has announced its intention to question certain officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria regarding the acquisition and utilization of the N30tn Ways and Means loan by the Federal Government during the administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
On Tuesday February 27, the Senate appointed Senator Isah Jibrin as the chairman of the panel tasked with investigating the N30tn Ways and Means loan released by the former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to the Buhari administration. Jibrin revealed that the panel would commence the probe this week.
An overdraft known as the ‘Ways and Means’ is directly taken from the central bank to fund budget deficits or address national contingency needs, typically following approval from the executive arm of government and requiring ratification by the parliament.
The Senate decided last week Tuesday to investigate the N30tn facility, attributing the food and security crises currently facing the country to the alleged reckless spending of the overdraft obtained from the CBN.
Deciding to take action, the red chamber established an Ad-hoc committee to look into the fund's expenditure, noting the intentional lack of transparency with the National Assembly.
However, the chairman of the panel indicated that the panel had initiated background checks utilizing certain documents in its possession.
He mentioned that they are considering next week for the investigation at the committee level, but as the chairman, he is not waiting for that and he wants to write to CBN to request information on certain areas.
He stated that the Ways and Means loan was also brought up towards the end of the ninth Senate in December 2022.
The Senator added, “I have some documents and I want to leverage on those documents by going through them to ask questions from the CBN to seek further clarifications. Thereafter, we will now invite CBN officials who were engaged under Emefiele, although he is no longer there.
It is uncertain whether the committee will eventually summon Emefiele as the investigation intensifies.
