Senate Moves Against Buhari, Inaugurates Committee To Probe N30trn CBN Loan

The Senate has made good its threat to probe the N30trn loan obtained under the past administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

The committee, which has been given six weeks to conduct the probe, will also look into the details of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme under the Buhari government.

The loan which was obtained under the Ways and Means, a facility through the Central Bank of Nigeria at the time Godwin Emefiele was governor of the bank, was meant to finance the government’s budget.

Emefiele is standing trial for alleged corruption.

The Ways and Means has come under serious focus as the administration of Bola Tinubu, who succeeded Buhari, has said the loan was not used for the purpose it was meant for.

The Senate had raised the issue weeks ago to look into the loan and how it was spent and mandated a joint committee on banking insurance and other financial institutions, finance, national planning, agriculture and appropriation to look into the matter.

Following the report of the joint committee, the upper house set up a full committee to probe the spending under the Buhari government.

The president of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, who spoke during the inauguration of the committee on Monday said the probe committee is “significant as it is charged with the investigation of the ways and means, including the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.”

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