Further documents from the Office of the Accountant General have been sent to the Senate panel investigating the N30 trillion Ways and Means loans that the Federal Government obtained from the Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria.
The panel will therefore review the documents before reconvening in person, according to PUNCH findings.
In order to strengthen its analysis of the controversial N30 trillion loan that the administration led by President Muhammadu secured, the panel had written to the OAGF requesting further documentation.
The records did, however, arrive at the National Assembly on Thursday, according to several people who spoke on Sunday under condition of anonymity because they lacked authorization to discuss the subject.
“The documents from the Office of the Accountant General regarding the probe of the N30tn Ways and Means came on Thursday; the documents have been given to the chairman and the members of the panel,” one of the Senate sources told our correspondent.
Also confirming the development, the Chairman of the Panel, senator Isah Jibrin ( APC, Kogi East), said the AGF had sent the documents to the National Assembly.
He said, “ Yes, the documents have come from the AGF and have been distributed to all panel members. At the moment, we are all studying it and once that is concluded we will resume physical meetings hopefully by next week.”
He added, “Nigerians can be assured that we will ensure due diligence and see that we do not let them down. Like I earlier said, we had never stopped working on the probe, we just needed more documents and now that we have them, nothing can hold us back.”
The country’s present food and security challenges are mostly attributed to the alleged reckless spending of the overdraft from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), according to the Senate’s resolution on Tuesday, February 20, to look into the N30tn loan.
Following its establishment, the panel found 13 violations that were purportedly made during the loan application procedure with the CBN.
However, a media report (not PUNCH) said that the committee had become inactive upon discovering that the Ways and Means loans sanctioned under Emefiele were only approximately N7 trillion, rather than the N30 trillion that the Senate had claimed.
Jibrin emphasised in response to the media claim that the numbers being looked into were undisputed.
Showing proof of the letter sent to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Jibrin had said, “We have not gone into limbo; we only needed additional documents from the Accountant-General’s office to continue the interface. The amount under probe is N30tn. I don’t know why people are spreading falsehood to achieve a selfish purpose.”
The letter dated June 19, 2024, and signed by Jibrin was titled: ‘Request for Submission of Additional Information’.
According to The PUNCH, President Buhari asked for the reorganisation of the accumulated N22.7 trillion in Ways and Means loans, together with an extra N1 trillion, to be used mainly for supporting the N819.5 billion 2022 supplemental budget, for a total of N23.7 trillion, in a letter dated December 20, 2022, during the Ninth Assembly.
In his request, President Buhari explained, “The Ways and Means are advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria to the federal government for emergency funding due to delayed fiscal deficits. As of December 19, 2022, the balance of Ways and Means was N22.7tn.
“I have approved the securitisation of these balances under the following terms: Amount, N23.7tn; Tenure, 40 years; Moratorium on principal repayment, three years; Interest rate, 9 per cent. Your concurrence and approval are sought to allow for the implementation of the same.”
The securitisation of the remaining N7.3 trillion debit balance of the Ways and Means Advance in the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund was authorised for President Bola Tinubu by the Tenth Senate on December 30, 2023, following the passage of the N23.7 trillion by the Ahmad-Lawan-led Ninth Senate.
