Reps Authorise Buhari to Take N1trn CBN Loan for 2022 Supplementary Budget

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

President Muhammadu Buhari has been authorised by the House of Representatives to borrow fresh N1 trillion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The lower chamber of the National Assembly approved this new borrowing from the apex bank by the federal government through ways and means on Tuesday.

This was after the Chairman of the House Committees on Finance, Banking and Currency and Aids, Loans and Debts Management, Mr James Faleke, submitted his period yesterday.

The committees looked into the request of Mr Buhari to restructure the N22.7 trillion ways and means advances.

Though the green chamber of the parliament rejected the securitisation of the N22.7 trillion CBN loans, it authorised the CBN to print N1 trillion for the government to fund the 2022 supplementary budget.

In the report, the committees recommended that the government take the N1 trillion CBN loan “based on the observations and the exigencies of the federal government’s current fiscal situation” for the “implementation of the 2022 Supplementary Appropriations Act as passed by the National Assembly.”

It further recommended “further engagements 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 N22.7 trillion.”

Recall that in December 2022, Mr Buhari asked the National Assembly to authorise the conversion of the N22.7 trillion and a fresh N1 trillion CBN loans into federal government securities.

“I have approved the securitisation of the Ways and Means balances along the following terms: amount, N23.7 trillion; tenure, 40 years; moratorium on principal repayment, 3 years; pricing interest rate, 9 per cent,” the President had written in a letter to the Senate and the House of Reps.