Members of opposition parties in the House of Representatives yesterday staged a walkout over a bill seeking to raise the ways and means cash advances from five to 10 per cent.
The walk out came at plenary, after an amendment by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, that the ways and means be reduced to two per cent was rejected.
Section (38) of the CBN Act (2007) provides that the advance by the apex bank, in the form of ways and means, must not exceed five per cent of the previous year’s revenue of the federal government.
Chinda moved the amendment during the consideration of the report on the bill at the committee of the whole, saying this would enhance transparency in federal government’s spending.
The report proposed raising the ways and means advances from the existing five to 15 per cent.
Chairman of the Committee on Finance, James Faleke, however, opposed Chinda’s amendment, urging the House not to go below the five per cent in the Act.
“For us to move on, we need to move up. For the issue of transparency and accountability, the Committee (on Banking and Currency) has the responsibility to oversight,” he said.
Contributing to the debate, Ibrahim Isiaka, a lawmaker from Ogun State, supported Faleke’s position, proposing that it should be raised from five to 10 per cent.
On his part, former deputy speaker of the House, Idris Wase, from Plateau State, moved a motion for an amendment that 10 per cent should be maintained.
Benjamin Kalu, the deputy speaker and presiding officer, appealed to members for understanding, in view of the recent increase in the minimum wage of workers, saying the government needed more money.
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“There is gap, and funding has to come from somewhere to bridge the gap in meeting government’s obligations,” he said.
Consequently, he called for a voice vote on Wase’s amendment motion, the “nays” were louder than the “ayes,” but he ruled in favour of the “ayes.”
This provoked the lawmakers who loudly expressed their dissent with a repeated “no”.
It was at this point the opposition lawmakers, led by Chinda, walked out of plenary.
Subsequently, the report was adopted and passed for third reading.
Ways and means is a loan facility through which the CBN finances federal government’s budget shortfalls.
The CBN law limits advances under ways and means to five per cent of the previous year’s revenue, but this has been observed in breach over the years.
On May 23, 2023, the Senate approved N22.7 trillion ways and means loan, thereby securitising the debt, following a request by former President Muhammadu Buhari on December 28, 2022, asking the lawmakers to do so.
In January 2023, former President Muhammadu Buhari told the Senate it would cost the Federal Government about N1.8 trillion in interest if the National Assembly failed to approve the N22.7 trillion in extra-budgetary spending.