The Senate announced that if the current leadership of the CBN fails to offer necessary explanations, it will invite the former governor of the Bank to explain the N30 trillion “Ways and Means” that the Buhari administration obtained while in office.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been instructed by the Senate’s Ad-hoc committee investigating the N30 trillion Ways and Means to retrieve a significant amount of N1.079 trillion that was loaned to farmers under the Anchor Borrowers Loan scheme.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Jibrin Isah (APC Kogi East) who expressed his dissatisfaction with the inadequate management of the loan recovery, gave this directive at an interface with officials of CBN and ordered the apex bank to debit the commercial banks that were utilised to disburse the loan.
The N1.079 trillion given as loans to farmers under the Anchor Borrowers Scheme was part of the money spent from the N22.7 trillion given as overdraft to President Muhammadu Buhari-led government by the CBN from 2015 to 2023, which later increased to N30 trillion on account of accrued interests.
OrderPaper recalls that in response to mounting concerns over the purported spending of the N30 trillion ways and means by the previous administration, the Senate set up and inaugurated a committee to conduct a thorough investigation.
OrderPaper also recalls that the Senate 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 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to explain the N30 trillion “Ways and Means” that President Muhammadu Buhari administration obtained while he was in office.
READ ALSO: Senate set to summon Emefiele over N30trn ‘Ways And Means’
After an unsatisfactory explanation offered by the CBN officials led by Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Bala Bello, on poor recovery of the loan, Senator Jibrin said, “They defaulted and why do they default? You can’t restructure the loan forever. You can go after the collateral, you must up your games, we need to recover these monies. We can’t continue to restructure forever.
“We are talking about N358 Billion that hasn’t been repaid and is at risk of default.
“For those that have defaulted, I suggest that we put a peg on the interest. Our focus should be on the principal. On that, those loans must have been guaranteed by the banks. I want to believe that those banks must have covered their backs through collateral.
“I am sure no bank will grant loans without collateral. They must open up to you. We have the power to go through the whole hog by debiting them at source. We can do that, let them go to Court,” he said.
