The  Committee probing how the N30tn Ways and Means loans were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria and spent by the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration says it has uncovered  some infractions in the in the process of obtaining the overdraft.

This came to the fore when Chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Isah Jibrin (Kogi East), and other members of the panel met with officials of the CBN at the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The team of CBN officials,  was led by one of the deputy governors of the apex bank, Bala Bello. The ad-hoc committee is probing the disbursement and usage of the N30tn Ways and Means loans obtained during the Buhari administration.

Jibrin alleged that  Godwin Emefiele,  the immediate past former governor of the CBN, unilaterally signed billions of naira in the approval of different tranches of the loans without following due process.

The Kogi lawmaker also accused Emefiele of illegally signing billions of naira in 13 documents. According to the committee chairman, Emefiele ought to have approved the loans in conjunction with the CBN Board of Directors, stressing that he unilaterally signed the loans contrary to the requirements of the CBN Act.

Jibrin said, “The committee of governors ought to be the signatories to the Ways and Means account but in the document we have here, the governor signed billions of naira in about 13 places.

“We want to know the total figure of the Ways and Means. We want to know the summation of the figure.”

The committee chairman further noted that documents available to him on the Anchors Borrowers Programme implemented by the Buhari’s administration indicated that about 70 per cent of the programme had been executed, leaving the remaining 30 per cent.

He said, “On the Anchor Borrowers Programme, you have done well. You did about 70 percent but we must ensure the completion of the remaining 30 percent.”

Jibrin, however, informed that the committee would summon the current CBN governor, Cardoso, to give a detailed account of what he knew about the Ways and Means facility.

The senator said, “Your governor who took over from Emefiele should be able to stand for Emefiele because he took over from him, including his assets.

“Emefiele should provide an explanation to the existing governor.  We will invite the governor and in case he does not have a response, he will contact Emefiele.”

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This was disclosed by Wale Edun, the minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at the Public Wealth Management Conference in Abuja, where he explained that the details would be released soon.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) to seek ways of managing the nation’s assets and resources for the overall wellbeing of the people.

Also in attendance at the event is Vice President Kashim Shettima; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite; Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari; and the Governor of Cross Rivers State, Bassey Otu.

Also at the event were World Bank representatives as well as members of the private sector and the diplomatic corps.

Edun said, “We have to stem liquidity. The Central Bank has led the way in pointing out that the ways and means loans have to be tailed down and eliminated and that is what we agree with.

“We are doing in that direction, there was an inherited amount of N22.7trn in backlogs. We are auditing it and it is like when I am ready to pay a loan from a bank and I ask for an audit before finding the agreed sum to pay.

“But apart from that, how do you get your ways and means down? We have to get revenues up and expenditure reduced as much as possible.”

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Ways and Means Advances is a loan facility used by the Central Bank to finance the government in periods of temporary budget shortfalls, subject to limits imposed by law.

The request was not included in the Senate’s order paper for the Wednesday plenary session, nor was it mentioned by the Senate leader, who also serves as the head of the special committee formed for that reason.

Meanwhile, the executive branch of government did not give the information that was expected regarding how the N22.7 trillion was spent over the course of ten years.

Recall that last week on Tuesday, the Senate’s president, Ahmad Lawan, stated that the Senate was prepared to support the proposal as long as the Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, and Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, supplied the necessary information regarding the spending.

He said that the Senate and, consequently, the House of Representatives would have adjourned session on Thursday of last week till after the Presidential and National Assembly elections if it weren’t for the restructuring of the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means request.

”We must have the necessary information for passage of the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means Restructuring request as time is not on our side in the Senate now given the coming general elections.

” If there is a need for the Senate to sit up until Friday (last week) for thorough consideration and passage of the request, it will be done, but the affected officials from the executive must also expedite action on the provision of the required information as regards documents authorizing approval and disbursement of the monies totaling N22.7 trillion,” he had said.

Recall that the Debt Management Office (DMO) explained in a statement, this afternoon, that the debt stock did not represent borrowings under the current administration but had built up from past administrations.

It explained further that the public debt stock was the total sum of debts owed by the federal and state governments, as well as, the Federal Capital Territory.

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A cash advance is essentially a short-term loan, often borrowed from a credit card issuer.

The President also requested that the Senate pass the extra appropriations measure for 2022, N819,536,937,813.

Two letters from the President were read aloud in the Senate by President Ahmad Lawan.

Buhari, in his letter titled “Restructuring of Ways and Means Advances,” wrote: “The Ways and Means Advance by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the Federal Government has been a funding option available to the Federal Government to cater for short-term emergency finance to fund delayed government expected cash receipts or fiscal deficits.

“The Ways and Means Balances as of December 19, 2022, in the sum of N22,719,703,884,306.90, is hereby attached as Annexure 1.

“The detailed breakdown of the additional N1trillion to be advanced by the CBN is attached as Annexure 2.”

“I have approved the securitization of the Ways and Means Balances along the following terms: Amount: N23, 019, 703,774,306.90; tenor: 40 years; moratorium on principal repayment: three years; interest rate: nine percent.

“Consequently, your concurrence and approval are hereby sought to allow for the implementation of same.”

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At the Ministerial Presentation of the 2023 Budget at the Ministry of Finance Headquarters in Abuja, Ahmed made this announcement.

She also revealed that the government’s contingent liabilities as a share of GDP fell from 2.75% in 2020 to 2.64% in 2021. By the end of 2022, it is anticipated to be in this region.

Dr. Ahmed said that the “total public debt as a percentage of GDP stood at 23.06% as of June 30, 2022, within the 55% threshold recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank (WB) as well as Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40% set in the MTDS 2020-2023, even after including the outstanding balance on CBN Ways & Means Advances”

She added that the Target Ratio under the MTDS 2020-2023 is 70:30 and that the Debt Management Office was expecting to achieve the target by end of 2023.

While responding to the question on the Ways and Means, the minister said, “The total Ways and Means today is 20 trillion and we have the approval to securitize.

The securitization will be over in a 40-year period with an interest rate of 9%. But over the years, we have been paying the interest component at the current rate that is charged on the Ways and Means.”

She added that the exposure to refinancing risk remained stable as a result of the strategy of issuance of long-dated securities in the domestic and international markets in addition to accessing long-term funds from multilateral and bilateral lenders.

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