Senate not aware of N22tn loan –Ndume

A lawmaker, Senator Ali Ndume, has said that the Senate “did not know” of the N22 trillion naira Ways and Means Advances offered to the government by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The Senator said this on Friday evening when he appeared on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, which was monitored by our correspondent.

According to the Senator, the National Assembly learnt about the advance on December 20 when the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), wrote to the Senate, asking them to approve the sum.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that some members of the Senate had raised objections and rejected the President’s request in a letter to restructure the N22.7tn ways and means loan.

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The lawmaker who represents the Borno South Senatorial District revealed that the Senate had questioned the request for approval, adding that the two-page report sent to the floor of the Senate did not explain what the monies had been used for.

He insinuated that the issuance of the ways and loans advance from the CBN to the government, had been going on since as far back as the Jonathan administration and questioned what constitutional right the Senate had to ratify a loan it had not been initially contacted to approve.

“We didn’t know. We only knew on 20th December when Mr. President wrote to the Senate, asking us to approve the twenty-two point something trillion, that was spent from the CBN through the ways and means. That was what triggered the argument, and most importantly, it was just a two-page report, there were no details as to what the money was used for. And it would have been ridiculous or a disservice if we had just gone ahead to approve it.

“It is wrong and this thing has been going on even before Buhari became the President. The illegality has been going on, and I think when he met it like that, they continued on that path, but now he realised that actually, the National Assembly has to approve it. But then I asked my colleagues that time, when the money is already spent, you don’t approve it, you only ratify it. Then that brings us to the constitutional matter, of whether even the National Assembly has the right to do what it is asked to do.”

Senator Ndume however, said the Senate had not rejected the request, but only stood it down, until a committee had investigated it, adding that the question remained an issue of whether the Senate had the right to ratify the loan.

“No, we didn’t reject it, we stood it down and set up a special committee to look at it. And even if we get the details, my question remains do we even have the right? Approval is when you seek the consent of the National Assembly to do something, not when you have already done it.”