From Kenneth Udeh from Abuja
A motion seeking to mandate the Federal Government to settle debts it incurred from court judgments in order to avert the consequences of Garnishee Orders Awarded in favour of Judgment Creditors failed to sail through at the Senate as the Lawmakers voted against the motion on Wednesday.
The motion titled “Urgent Need for the settlement of critical Judgment Debts owed by the Federal Government, Ministries, Department and Agencies with Promissory Notes to avoid Garnishee Orders on the Federal Government” was sponsored by Senator Saliu Mustapha (Kwara Central).
At the commencement of the day’s Plenary, Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele voted that the Saliu’s motion which was the first order of the day be stepped aside, Bamidele’s motion was subsequently seconded by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Kamorudeen Olarere. President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio put the motion into voice vote in which the Senators voted that the motion be shut down.
However as contained in the motion the Saliu raised concerns on the country’s rising debt profile and forex crisis he pointed out that many of the entities with enrolled judgment debt orders against the Federal Government have initiated further legal actions that have led to securing Garnishee Order Absolute against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and by extension the Federal Government, seeking the enforcement of the judgment sums directly through the accounts of the Apex Bank.
Senator Saliu revealed that various MDAs of Government have incurred a substantial judgment debts totaling the sum of over 500 Million Dollars ( $556,754,584.81), Nine eight thousand ( £96,526.17) and over Two Hundred Billion naira (N226,281,801,881.64) which has further increased the nation’s financial burden.
The motion also warned that if nothing is done about the continued legal proceedings on these cases the Nation’s debt profile will be put in more jeopardy as interest and other contingencies charges may be incurred that will give further rise to the already bloated debt burden of the Federal Government.
The motion read “Therefore it is essential to resolve all matters of judgment debt amicably without further hindrance and address these judgment debts responsibly and transparently.
The prayers of the stalled motion read; Mandate the committee on Finance to comprehensively investigate the veracity of the judgments and exact total debt yet to be liquidated; Liaise with all relevant Agencies such as the Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Debt Management Office, Federal Ministry of Justice, CBN, the Creditors and others to ascertain the causes of the delays in discharging the judgment debts; Finding lasting solution to the issues of judgment debts and ensure transparency and accountability in the process, recommends ways forward as to liquidating the debts and report back to the Senate within two (2) weeks; and Investigate and review all other pending judgment debts and recommend ways of minimizing and settling such debt burden on the federal government.
A garnishee order is a common form of enforcing a judgment debt against a creditor to recover money. Put simply, the court directs a third party that owes money to the judgment debtor to instead pay the judgment creditor. The third party is called a ‘garnishee’.