Senate Intensifies Probe On N30trnWays And Means 

Senate’s probe into to-
tal sum of  N30trillion Ways and Means facilities granted the Federal Government between  2014  and  2023  by the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) , got   a boost  last week ,
The Senate last week granted the Ad- hoc  committee  mandated to carry out the probe  , additional two months to ensure a thorough investigation. The committee was earlier set up in March this year.
Last Thursday , Senator Isah Jibrin  , had in seeking for more time , informed the Senate that required vital information for the probe exercise, were still being expected from some of the relevant agencies involved in the spending of the monetary facilities.
Speaking  with journalists in Abuja Saturday , Senator Jibrin, said the two months extension granted the committee by the Senate  would help the Senate get all required information  for the probe.
His words: “Most of the relevant agencies have been contacted and their documents being thoroughly scrutinised as regards spending of the disbursement gotten from the ways and means .
“ Being a very sensitive national assignment , the committee is carrying out very thorough investigation  devoid of rushing into conclusion .
“ More pressures would now be mounted on few of the agencies that have not adequately responded to vital information seeking requests forwarded to them , failure of which would lead to summoning of heads of such agencies.
“The new time frame given for the investigation by the Senate , will surely make the committee come up with thoroughly investigative report in  September this year on how the N30trillion Ways and Means were disbursed within the period under review ,  for what purposes and expended “, he said .
Ways and Means is a loan facility through which the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) ,   finances the Federal Government’s budget shortfalls.
This way of financing government deficits usually results in macroeconomic instability, leading to inflation and high exchange rates because of the excess liquidity injected into the economy.
The CBN law limits advances under ways and means to five percent of the previous year’s revenue, but this has been mostly breached over the years.
As a way of remedying the situation, the CBN Governor ,  Olayemi Cardoso, declared in February this year ,  that the bank would no longer grant ways and means advances to the government until all outstanding debts are refunded.