The House of Representatives will hold an emergency session on Sunday on the amendment of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act.
The bill was introduced in the House on Thursday by the Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Finance, Victor Nwokolo (PDP, Delta) and was passed for second reading without any debate by the lawmakers.
The second reading stage is for the debate on the general principle of the bill. However, the lawmakers did not debate the bill on Thursday.
On Saturday, the Senate amended the CBN Act to raise the total advances the bank can make to the federal government from five per cent to 15 per cent.
It appears as though Mr Buhari, who is set to exit the office on Monday, is making efforts to sort out the Ways and Means situation before leaving office.
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Under the CBN Act, the Ways and Means provision allows the government to borrow from the apex bank if it needs short-term or emergency finance to fund delayed government expected cash receipts of fiscal deficits.
Section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007, stipulates that the total amount of ways and means advances outstanding shall not at any time exceed five per cent of the previous year’s actual revenue of the federal government.
This proposed amendment seeks to increase the threshold to 15 per cent.
Earlier this month, the National Assembly approved a request by President Buhari to convert the N23.7 trillion Ways and Means loan to a 40-year bond.
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