The senate, in a rowdy session yesterday, rejected the request by President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the N22.7 trillion ‘ways and means’ loan secured from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in the last 10 years.
Recall that the president had in a letter read on the floor of the senate on Wednesday, December 21, sought for restructuring the N22.7 trillion ways and means advances collected from CBN within the last ten years in addition to N1 trillion to be collected as fresh domestic loan.
He stated in the letter that ways and means were advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria to the federal government for emergency funding of delayed receipt of fiscal deficits.
The senate had in line with parliamentary procedure, given the request expeditious consideration by passing it for second reading and mandating its committee on Finance to work on it.
According to Vanguard, trouble started yesterday when the chairman, senate committee on finance, Mr. Olamilekan Adeola, came up with a report on Ways and Means 2022 as requested by the president, last week.
Soon after Adeola’s presentation, Mrs. Betty Apiafi raised a point of order, with a strong argument that Buhari’s request was unconstitutional and that what the senate was about to do by considering the request was alien to Nigerian law.
The senate became tense when the senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan, ruled her out of order on the grounds that the report should be presented and read by the committee chairman for lawmakers to contribute to the debate.
Lawan’s ruling did not go down well with Apiafi and some senators, thereby leading to a charged atmosphere.
Mr. George Sekibo raised a point of order, calling on the senate president to step down consideration of the report until lawmakers get more details on what the funds were used for.
In a strong move to stop approval of the report without scrutiny, Sekibo rose through constitutional orders by citing Sections 80, 83, Section113(1) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 38 of the CBN Act to kick against the request.
“We came into this chamber today (yesterday) and were given the report on N22.7trillion, which has been spent in the past 10 years. Whether it is 10 years or five years, whatever it is, the issue is that such payment, when the loans are taken, the Senate should be informed, we should be abreast with the information that such money is going to be taken because it is being taken on behalf of the people of Nigeria and we are entrusted with the power to make laws.
“According to the constitution, we can appropriate. They brought this up without details for us to approve.
“Section 80 of the 1999 constitution as amended provides that all revenues or other monies raised or received by the federation, not being revenue and other monies payable under this constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the federation established for a particular purpose, shall be paid into and form and form one consolidated revenue fund of the Federation.
“No money shall be withdrawn from the consolidated revenue fund of the Federation except to meet expenditure that is charged upon the fund or where the issue of those monies has been authorised by an appropriation act, supplementary act or an act passed in pursuance of Section 81 of the constitution,” Sekibo said.
