The Senate Ad hoc Committee investigating the N30 trillion Ways and Means facility granted to the federal government has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of frustrating its efforts to uncover how the loans were utilized.
The apex bank issued the N30 trillion Ways and Means facility to the federal government between 2015 and 2023 when Muhammadu Buhari was president, violating its law limiting such advances to five percent of the previous year’s revenue.
On Tuesday, the Senate committee chairman, Isah Jibrin (Kogi East), said the CBN refused to provide the necessary documents to facilitate the investigation.
At the presentation of an interim report from the consultants hired by the Senate, the CBN’s Director of Banking Services, Hamisu Abdullahi, contended that the bank provided all the requested documents.
Senator Jibrin was unconvinced. “None of the documents was submitted to us,” he said.
“As it is, 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.”
Senator Jibrin accused the CBN of frustrating his committee’s mandate to produce a report as quickly as possible.
The Ways and Means is a loan facility through which the CBN finances the federal government’s budget shortfalls.
