On Wednesday, the Senate rejected the president’s request to restructure the N22.7 trillion in ways and means advances that the federal government had obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Following a commotion in the Senate over the issue, the lawmakers rejected the request.
In a letter that was read out loud on the Senate floor last Wednesday, Buhari asked that the N22.7 trillion in ways and means advances he had gotten from the CBN over the past ten years, as well as the N1 trillion he would get as a new domestic loan, be restructured.
In the letter, he outlined the Federal Government’s methods and means, including advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria for emergency funding of budgetary shortfalls.
But problems came up when the committee’s head, Solomon Adeola (APC Lagos West), was asked to give a report on it.
The Senate leadership tried to get a copy of the report from the finance committee, which said that the president’s request should be granted, but some senators quickly spoke out against it.
Senator Betty Apiafi (PDP, Rivers) was the first senator to speak out against it. She used the constitutional point of order to say that the Nigerian constitution doesn’t say anything about how and where money is spent.
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But Senate President Ahmad Lawan told her she was out of order because she let the report be read before she objected to it.
While Senator Adeola was presenting the report, a few senators complained to show their disagreement with it.
Senator George Thompson Sekibo (APC, Rivers State) made a constitutional point of order to explain why the “ways and means” changes were illegal and against the law.
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.
Because Sekibo’s evidence and argument were so complicated, it was hard for Senate President Ahmed Lawan to convince the Senate to agree with the president’s request.
In opposition to the request, Senator Sekibo cited provisions 80, 83, 1, and 13(1) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 38 of the CBN Act.
