The senate committee seized with the responsibility has reassured that the ways and means investigation has not been swept under the carpet
The Senate, through its ad-hoc committee investigating the N30 trillion ways and means facility expended by the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari administration, has reassured the public that the investigation was on course.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi east), gave the reassurance in a personally signed statement which attached a letter of reminder written to the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation requesting vital information for the investigative exercise.
Senator Jibrin, who doubles as chairman of the Senate committee on customs and excise duties, explained that though the ad-hoc committee was given six weeks at inauguration in March, 2024, to carry out the exercise and report back to the Senate, the thoroughness and diligence required for the sensitive national assignment had made the committee exceed the time.
“The essence of an investigation is to develop factual findings and not just roll in a report within a specified time frame. Investigation on the N30trillion ways and means is on course and not in any way, in limbo as insinuated by an online platform,” the statement said.
According to him, “some of the required findings have been made and still being made as clearly shown by letter of reminder recently written to the office of Accountant-General of the Federation,” which stated that “the required information is details of disbursements under ways and means, names of the beneficiaries, amount/date of disbursements, purpose of the disbursements, and terms of the disbursement and (where applicable), repayment schedule (where applicable) and adherence to the repayment schedule.”
OrderPaper recalls that as part of the investigation into the N30trillion loan, the senate had announced that if the current leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fails to offer necessary explanations, it will invite the former governor of the bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, to defend the loan.
READ MORE: Senate inaugurates committee to probe Buhari’s N30 Trillion Ways and Means – OrderPaper
What is ways and means?
Ways and means is a loan facility through which the CBN finances the federal government’s budget shortfalls. The law limits advances under this measure to 5 per cent of the previous year’s revenue, but this has mostly been breached over the years.
To remedy the situation, the CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, had declared in February this year that the bank would no longer grant ways and means advances to the government “until all outstanding debts are refunded.”
READ ALSO: Ways and Means: FG has paid N4.83trn – Finance Minister Edun – OrderPaper
