The Senate panel investigating the Federal Government’s N30 trillion Ways and Means loans procured from Godwin Emefiele’s Central Bank of Nigeria has received further documents from the Office of the Accountant General.
Hence, the panel is scheduled to continue physical sitting after reviewing the materials, according to the PUNCH.
The panel had written to the OAGF, requesting additional papers to strengthen its case against the controversial N30 trillion loan received by the President Muhammadu-led administration.
Several sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the topic on Sunday, verified that the documents had arrived at the National Assembly on Thursday.
“The documents from the Office of the Accountant General regarding the probe of the N30tn Ways and Means came on Thursday; the documents have been given to the chairman and the members of the panel,” one of the Senate sources told our correspondent.
Senator Isah Jibrin (APC, Kogi East), Chairman of the Panel, confirmed the development, stating that the AGF has delivered the documents to the National Assembly.
He said, “ Yes, the documents have come from the AGF and have been distributed to all panel members. At the moment, we are all studying it and once that is concluded we will resume physical meetings hopefully by next week.”
He added, “Nigerians can be assured that we will ensure due diligence and see that we do not let them down. Like I earlier said, we had never stopped working on the probe, we just needed more documents and now that we have them, nothing can hold us back.”
On Tuesday, February 20, the Senate resolved to probe the N30 trillion loan, citing the alleged reckless expenditure of the CBN’s overdraft, which contributed significantly to the country’s present food and security challenges.
inauguration, the panel found 13 alleged violations committed throughout the loan application process with the CBN.
Meanwhile, a media report stated that the committee was in limbo after discovering that the Ways and Means loans sanctioned under Emefiele were approximately N7 trillion, not N30 trillion, as claimed by the Senate.
Jibrin responded to the media report, clarifying that the data under inquiry were not in question.
Jibrin said, “We have not gone into limbo; we only needed additional documents from the Accountant-General’s office to continue the interface. The amount under probe is N30tn. I don’t know why people are spreading falsehood to achieve a selfish purpose.”
The letter dated June 19, 2024, and signed by Jibrin was titled: ‘Request for Submission of Additional Information’.
