The Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the N30 trillion Ways and Means facility granted to the federal government between 2015 and 2023 has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of frustrating its efforts to uncover how the loans were utilised.
The Committee Chairman, Isah Jibrin, made the allegation on Tuesday after receiving an interim report from its consultants.
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Mr Jibrin, the senator for Kogi East, said the CBN has refused to provide the necessary documents to facilitate the investigation, thereby delaying the completion of the assignment.
Background of the Ways and Means facility
The Ways and Means facility is a mechanism through which the CBN lends money to the federal government to cover budget shortfalls.
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Under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, the government reportedly borrowed N30 trillion through this facility, with Godwin Emefiele as CBN Governor during the period.
The excessive borrowing from the CBN raised economic concerns, as many economists and policymakers blamed it for contributing to Nigeria’s current economic hardship, inflation, and currency depreciation.
Critics also argued that the 9th Senate, led by Ahmed Lawan, was complicit in approving the loans without thorough scrutiny, a situation that is worsening the country’s fiscal crisis.
In response to growing public outrage, the 10th Senate set up a nine-member Ad-hoc Committee on 27 February 2024 to probe the loan disbursement and utilisation.
However, almost a year later, the committee has yet to finalise its report due to alleged non-compliance from the CBN.
Senate’s frustration over CBN non-compliance
Mr Jibrin expressed dissatisfaction with the CBN’s lack of transparency, claiming that the committee had attempted several methods to obtain the required documents, but none had been received.
He warned that only a deputy governor or a higher-ranking official from the CBN would be allowed to attend subsequent meetings, as lower-level representatives had failed to provide meaningful responses.
“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,” he added.
The committee chairman explained that its objective was to finalise the report as soon as possible, but the CBN’s actions were hampering the progress.
Public disclosure of interim report
Due to the delay, Mr Jibrin announced that the committee had decided to make the interim report public.
“The information we have here is not different from what we have had all along. What we did was 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.
“We have now been compelled to make available this interim report to the general public so that they 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,” he said. .
He further disclosed that there had been no progress despite efforts to engage CBN officials at various levels.
He said the committee’s clerk and consultants had also tried to retrieve the documents directly from the CBN but without success.
“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.”
CBN response and denial
Responding, the CBN Director of Banking Services, Hamisu Abdullahi, refuted claims that the bank was withholding information.
He insisted that all requested documents had been submitted via email.
“We provided a schedule showing summary of ways and means stating direct ways and means and indirect ways and means. That folder was sent to an email provided by this committee. There was an email provided, we sent, we replied to that email three times,” he said.
He further stated that if there were any specific documents that the consultants believed were missing, they should identify them so the CBN could address the issue.
“We can resend that document as we speak here. So we have responded that we are not aware of any document requested that we have not provided.
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“If there is any document that is requested we have not provided, let us know. All the documents required are in that folder.
“So after the consultant reviews what is in that folder, if he needs additional documents, our expectation is that he should say one, two, three documents are not there to provide. We have provided it separately, and we can provide it again,” Mr Abdullahi said.
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