Senate rejects Buhari’s plea to restructure N22tn loan

The Senate rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s proposal to restructure the N22.7 trillion in Ways and Means advances that the Federal Government had obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria on Wednesday.

Following a commotion in the Senate over the issue, the lawmakers rejected the request.

Buhari had requested in a letter read aloud on the Senate floor last Wednesday that the N22.7 trillion in ways and means advances that had been obtained from the CBN over the previous ten years be restructured in addition to the N1 trillion that would be obtained as a new domestic loan.

In the letter, he listed the Federal Government’s ways and means as advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria for emergency funding of postponed receipt of budgetary shortfalls.

However, issues arose when Solomon Adeola (APC Lagos West), the committee’s chairman, was asked to deliver a report on it.

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The Senate leadership tried to acquire the finance committee’s report, which had recommended that the president’s request be granted, but certain senators quickly voiced their opposition.

The first senator to speak out against it was Senator Betty Apiafi (PDP, Rivers), who used the constitutional point of order to claim that the Nigerian constitution is unaware of the manner and means of expenditure.

However, she was declared out of order by Senate President Ahmad Lawan for allowing the report to be delivered before objecting to it.

While Senator Adeola was presenting the report, a few senators complained to show their disagreement with it.

In order to clarify why the “ways and means” advancements were illegal and unconstitutional, Senator George Thompson Sekibo (APC, Rivers State) raised a constitutional point of order.

He notified the Senate that the President’s action violated the CBN Act and the Senate’s standing rules in addition to impinging on the privileges of the National Assembly and Senate.

The complexity of the evidence and argument presented by Sekibo prevented Senate President Ahmed Lawan from successfully persuading the Senate to grant the president’s request.

Senator Sekibo cited sections 80, 83, Section1,13(1) of the 1999 Constitution, and section 38 of the CBN Act while kicking against the request.