N30trn Ways and Means: Senate Panel Demands Fresh Documents from Accountant General

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate adhoc committee investigating the N30 trillion Ways and Means spent by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration between 2015 and 2023, announced yesterday, that it had requested additional information from the Accountant General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Isah Jibrin (APC  Kogi East), who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, assured Nigerians that the probe had not been jettisoned as being insinuated in some quarters.

Jibrin, attached a letter of reminder written to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) requiring vital information for thoroughness of the investigative exercise.

The Senator, who is also the Chairman, Senate Standing Committee on Customs and Excise, explained that the adhoc committee was given six weeks when inaugurated in March to carry out the exercise and report back to the Senate.

He, however, attributed the delay in the submission of its report to the need to carry out a thorough and diligent exercise required for the sensitive national assignment.

Part of the statement read, “The essence of an investigation is to come up with factual findings and not just roll in report within specified time frame.

“Investigation on the N30 trillion Ways and Means, is on course and not in anyway, in limbo as being insinuated.

“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,” he said.

The letter dated 19th June, 2024 was signed by Jibrin.

It was titled, “Request for Submission of Additional Information.”

It added, “You may recall our earlier letter on the above subject dated 27th May, 2024, requesting for the following additional information on Ways and Means, which you are yet to respond to.

“The required information are, Details of disbursements under ways and means, Names of the beneficiaries. Amount / date of disbursements and purpose of the disbursements.

“They also include, terms of the disbursement            (where applicable ), repayment schedule ( where applicable ) and adherence to the repayment schedule.”

Ways and Means is a loan facility through which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), finances the federal government’s budget shortfalls.

This way of financing government deficits usually results in macroeconomic instability, leading to inflation and high exchange rates because of the excess liquidity injected into the economy.

The CBN law limits advances under ways and means to five percent of the previous year’s revenue, but this has been mostly breached over the years.

As a way of remedying the situation, the CBN Governor, 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.”