The Senate has raised concerns over what it describes as deliberate efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to frustrate its investigation into the Ways and Means loans granted to the federal government between 2015 and 2023.
Speaking in Abuja yesterday after receiving an interim report from its consultants at a committee meeting, Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc committee investigating the loans, Senator Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East), lamented the CBN’s refusal to provide relevant documents necessary for the completion of the probe. He stated: “None of the documents was submitted to us,” adding that “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. What you are telling us is not the truth. We have not received the documents. I don’t want to deceive the public here.”
Jibrin expressed frustration over the delay, stating that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, had entrusted the committee with the task of investigating the loans and presenting a report within the shortest time possible. However, the CBN’s non-cooperation was slowing down the process.
“The information we have here is not different from what we have heard all along. What we did was to hand over the documents to the consultants, and when the consultants made available to us this interim report, our intention was to hold onto the interim report on the final report.
“But we’ve been compelled to make available this interim report to the general public so that they know that we let them know where the problem is, and the problem is that the Central Bank of Nigeria has denied us consistently the documents that we need to complete this assignment. That is the truth.”
According to Jibrin, previous meetings with CBN officials, including a discussion with Deputy Governor Bala, yielded no results. He disclosed that despite multiple visits by the Clerk of the Senate and direct interactions between the consultants and CBN officials, the documents remained unavailable.
“So let the Nigerian public know that this assignment has been hindered by the Central Bank of Nigeria. They will deny those documents. After this, you must avail us or avail the consultants, all the documents that they require to complete this assignment.
“The reason for this meeting is to let everybody know why we have not been able to finish this assignment. Because it looks as if we have compromised. And the answer is that we have not. It looks like we have compromised. I just want to say that we are going to sleep. That is not the case. This is a major assignment that God has for everybody. We want to know how these monies were utilized. Okay? We want to know how these monies were utilised.”
The committee chairman further disclosed that preliminary findings indicated “major, major infractions” by the CBN, adding that the investigation could not proceed without complete documentation.
“We want to defend that. We need all the documents without exception. Whatever documents the consultants need to ensure that this job is completed efficiently and as soon as possible, you must provide.
“As it is, we don’t have a choice but to give them a time within which they must provide all the documents to the consultants. You just have to make sure that the documents are sent to the consultants.”
In response, a representative of the CBN, Hamisu Abdullahi, Director of Banking Services, insisted that the apex bank had provided all the requested documents.
“We provided a schedule showing summary of ways and means taking direct ways and means and indirect ways and means. That folder was sent to an email provided by this committee. There was an email provided, we sent, we replied that email three times. And we can resend that document as we speak here. So we have responded, we are not aware of any document requested that we have not provided.
“If there is any document that is requested we have not provided, let us know. All the documents required are in that folder. So after the consultant reviews what is in that folder, if he needs additional documents, our expectation is that he should say one, two, three documents are not there to provide. We have provided it separately and we can provide that again.”
However, Jibrin dismissed Abdullahi’s claim, stating that the committee had yet to receive the necessary documents from the CBN. He maintained that without full cooperation from the apex bank, the committee would be unable to conclude its investigation into how the loans were spent.
The Senate’s probe into the Ways and Means loans is a critical step in ensuring transparency in Nigeria’s financial management, particularly regarding the loans obtained by the federal government through the CBN over the past eight years.
