The Senate on Tuesday uncovered how a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, unilaterally signed billions of naira for Ways and Means loans to the Federal Government without other top officials of the country’s apex bank.
The Chairman of a Senate ad hoc committee set up to probe the issue, Isah Jibrin, made the revelation on Tuesday.
He stated that Emefiele illegally signed billions of naira in 13 documents.
Jibrin said Emefiele ought to have approved the loans in conjunction with the CBN Board of Directors, but he unilaterally signed the loans, which was contrary to the provisions of the CBN Act.
Jibrin said: “The Committee of Governors ought to be the signatories to the Ways and Means account, but in the document we have here, the governor signed billions of naira in about 13 places.
“We want to know the total figure of the Ways and Means.
“We want to know the summation of the figure.
“The committee could not get an immediate explanation for that and therefore gave 24 hours to provide the necessary explanation.
“We believe that every approval must be given by the Committee of Governors, that is the governor and his deputies.
“That is the standard rule.
“Where the governor alone unilaterally gives approval, that calls for questioning.
“I think they will provide answers for us very soon.
“However, the Anchor Borrowers amounting to N1.1 trillion has an impressive repayment rate of up to 70 percent performance and the rest 30 percent of N358 billion are loans given to low income farmers with very high risk.”
Senator Jibrin said the risk there is that those low income farmers do not have what it takes to perform to expectations in terms of “equipment, technical know-how to manage those farms effectively.
“That is where we are going to be having possible problems of loan default of about N358 billion.”
