Nigerian Senate Inaugurates Ad-Hoc Committee To Probe Central Bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme, Ways And Means

The inauguration ceremony was headed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio after a resolution was passed to that effect by the federal lawmakers.

The Nigerian Senate on Monday inaugurated an ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged corruption which has plagued the efficiency of Ways and Means and the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The inauguration ceremony was headed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio after a resolution was passed to that effect by the federal lawmakers.

The move comes after a decision by the Red Chamber to probe details of the programmes based on monies given to state governments, manufacturers, aviation, banks, and excess funding in the power sector, amongst others which raised the current debt profile of the country, Channels TV reports.

This was part of the Senate’s resolutions following a debate on the report of the National Assembly Joint Committees on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions (BIOFI), Finance, National Planning, Agriculture, and Appropriation on the state of the economy.

In an extensive debate in early February, Senator Adamu Aliero stated that some state governors, including some former senators, had received N18 billion as shock absorbers under the Ways and Means Act since 2015.

The controversy prompted some senators to propose the formation of a special committee to investigate the N30 trillion intervention disbursements (part of which were grants) and methods for collecting them.

In his inaugural address to the ad hoc committee chaired by Senator Isah Jibrin, who represents Kogi East, Akpabio slammed the committee for going to any length in its six-week probe.

He urged committee members to put aside personal and partisan interests, focus on the task at hand, and approach their tasks with balance, dedication, and objectivity.

The inauguration was attended by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso; the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein; the Auditor-General of the Federation, Shaakaa Chira; the Director General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha, beneficiary ministries, departments and agencies, institutions, states, local governments, and others.

Meanwhile, in January, SaharaReporters earlier reported how reliable sources said the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme under the Development Finance Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria was dogged by corruption.

Sources told SaharaReporters how the development finance department of the CBN under its former director, Yusuf Philip Yila gave contracts to cronies and paid for fake purchases under the programme.

Also, the former Chairman of TAK Agro Group, Thomas Etuh, was accused of benefiting from the fraud and diverting proceeds from the sale of fertilizer under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) in connivance with others.

PFI was introduced during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016, to boost domestic production of NPK fertiliser, a vital multi-nutrient mix containing nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Before the PFI, Nigeria heavily relied on imported fertilizer.