•Adjourns to February 28
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, yesterday, approved the request by President Muhammadu Buhari to secure an additional N1 trillion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The loan will be used to fund the 2022 supplementary budget.
This is as it deferred the approval for the N22.7 trillion extra-budgetary advances, otherwise known as Way and Means, from the Central Bank of Nigeria( CBN) to the government, pending engagement with the executive arm of government.
This was part of the report of House Joint Committee on Finance, Banking and Currency and Aids, Loans and Debts Management on the Restructuring of Ways and Means Advances, which was considered and approved at the Committee on Supply.
The parliament said there was need for “further engagement with the executive by the Joint Committee to allow for thorough and detailed work and submissions on the larger part of the Advances which amounts to N22,719,703,774,306.90.”
According to Speaker Femi Gbajamialia, the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means advance would be considered when the House resumes from its election break.
Nevertheless, the Green Chamber approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for “restructuring of the N1 trillion additional Ways and Means advances for implementation of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriations Act as passed by the National Assembly.”
Earlier, the deputy chairman, House Committee on Finance,Saidu Abdullahi, while giving a synopsis of the report, explained that the joint committee considered the restructuring of the Ways and Means advances by the CBN to the Federal Government, so as to ensure the continuous running of governance.
Abdullahi appealed to members to support the recommendations of the joint committee in the interest of the citizens, considering various challenges confronting the government in its bid to discharge c its duties to the people in recent times.
Meanwhile, the House has adjourned plenary to February 28, to enable lawmakers return to the constituencies to prepare for the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.