Primordial sentiments took the front-burner in the submission of lawmakers on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday over alleged lopsided disbursement of loan to the six geo- political zones by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) during the last administration.
A fresh motion by three Senators from the North: Ali Ndume (Borno South), Bomai Ibrahim Mohammed (Yobe South), and Ya’u Sahabi (APC, Zamfara North) to debate a bill titled, “Un-even Disbursement of Half a Trillion Naira loan to the six geo-political zones by the Development Bank of Nigeria,” was rejected by the lawmakers.
Ali Ndume had reminded his colleagues that he sponsored a motion on the same bill in the 9th Senate to draw attention to lopsided distribution of the loan but the adhoc Committee led by Senator representing Niger East, Sani Musa did not conclude its assignment.
Ndume and two other colleagues noted that the Bank’s Annual Integrated Statutory Report 2021 obtained on 13 July, 2022, from the organization’s website showed that the bank disbursed a loan worth Four Hundred and Eighty Three Billion Naira (N483, 000, 000, 000) out of which only 11% went to the 19 states of Northern Nigeria, while 47% went to Lagos State alone”
Ndume had sought the permission of the Senate to present the bill afresh.
Senator representing Ogun West who represented Lagos West in the ninth Senate, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola rose to counter Ali Ndume.
Senator Adeola, who incidentally was Chairman Senate Committee on Finance in the 9th Senate said the adhoc Committee concluded its assignment, making recommendation after its investigation which was sent to the Presidency by the Ahmed Lawan-led ninth Senate.
Senator representing Nasarawa West, Aliu Ahmed Wadada who was shouting “Point of Order!” on top of his voice, however, stood up and spoke in defence of Senator Ndume.https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?gdpr=0&us_privacy=1—&client=ca-pub-1896573800096815&output=html&h=188&slotname=7723325239&adk=2681531484&adf=1963314832&pi=t.ma~as.7723325239&w=750&fwrn=4&lmt=1688602468&rafmt=11&format=750×188&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftribuneonlineng.com%2Fuproar-in-senate-over-dbns-lopsided-disbursement-of-n500bn-loan%2F&host=ca-host-pub-2644536267352236&wgl=1&dt=1688606755048&bpp=6&bdt=5972&idt=52471&shv=r20230628&mjsv=m202306280101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3Dafb4814cbd6afb6f-2204f09830e000eb%3AT%3D1686696652%3ART%3D1688606724%3AS%3DALNI_Maf397ClbcMpdHyTeRLky1-8tazlg&gpic=UID%3D00000c480f34aed4%3AT%3D1686696652%3ART%3D1688606724%3AS%3DALNI_MYh06TBV2VGUx5k9dTn_nEpxVINJw&prev_fmts=0x0%2C1349x598%2C728x90&nras=2&correlator=1797314997725&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=642510659.1686696643&ga_sid=1688606757&ga_hid=751897323&ga_fc=1&rplot=4&u_tz=60&u_his=11&u_h=768&u_w=1366&u_ah=728&u_aw=1366&u_cd=24&u_sd=1&adx=105&ady=2425&biw=1349&bih=598&scr_x=0&scr_y=990&eid=44759926%2C44759842%2C44759875%2C31075811%2C44788441&oid=2&psts=ABnkTfA5gFJss0AOOWkoERQCivtYVTHkm8i4COUaNMoBJTZVJHpPX8MrphBY6A5tOCrnfCnlhQsrnQn4vO2KakJ_9PNU&pvsid=2503271628865561&tmod=304269108&nvt=1&ref=https%3A%2F%2Ftribuneonlineng.com%2F&fc=1920&brdim=-8%2C-8%2C-8%2C-8%2C1366%2C0%2C1382%2C744%2C1366%2C615&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CeEbr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&cms=2&fu=1152&bc=31&ifi=3&uci=a!3&btvi=1&fsb=1&xpc=FplgyG26tu&p=https%3A//tribuneonlineng.com&dtd=52587
Aligning himself with the observation on uneven distribution of the loan, Senator Wadada said his senatorial district and the entire North was cheated in the distribution of the loan.
Before the Senate President could rule on the motion, Senator Ndume was on his feet again. He insisted that it was morally wrong that the whole North was given only 11% while only Lagos State got 47% of the loan. He added that his state, Borno State, got only 1%.
Akpabio who quickly interrupted him, however, said the motion had to be stepped down for more consultation.
“Let me make it clear that the fact that the motion is stepped down does not mean it cannot be reintroduced, ” Akpabio assured Ndume and co-sponsors of the bill.
In the Order Paper cited by this reporter, sponsors of the bill urged the Senate “to be aware that the 11% of the loan that went to the North totals about Fifty Three Billion, One Hundred and Thirty Million Naira (N53, 130, 000, 000) while the 47 percent that went to Lagos State alone totals Two Hundred and Twenty Seven Billion and Ten Million Naira (N227, 010, 000, 000) only;
“Observes that the loans were given out to the Six Geopolitical Zones and the data showed that the South-West accessed the lion’s share 57% of the total loan, which is estimated to be around Two Hundred and Seventy Four Billion, Seven Hundred and Forty Million Naira (N274, 740,000,000) only;”
They further expressed concern that “the South-South Zone accessed 17%, which is roughly Eighty One Billion, Nine Hundred and Forty Million Naira (81, 940, 000, 000) only; the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the North-Central Zone accessed 11%, which is Fifty Three Billion and Twenty Million Naira (N53, 020, 000, 000) only, the South- East Zone accessed a paltry 9%, which is roughly Forty Three Billion, Three Hundred and Eighty Million Naira (N43, 380, 000, 000) only while the North-West which has 5% accessed Twenty Four Billion, One Hundred Million Naira (N24, 100, 000, 000) only and the North-East accessed only 1%, the least share of the total loan at roughly Four Billion, Eight Hundred and Twenty Million Naira (N4, 820, 000, 000) only.”
Ndume and his co-sponsored noted that “the Development Bank of Nigeria exists to alleviate financing constraints being faced by Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria through providing finance, partial credit guarantees, and technical assistance to eligible financial intermediaries on a market-conforming and fully financially sustainable basis and further noted that in the motion that “the top five sectors considered for the loan are oil and gas (42.0%), Manufacturing (16.0%) agriculture, forestry and fishery (7.2%), trade and commerce (6.3%), and transportation and storage (3.5%)”
Checks by Tribune Online revealed that last December, the immediate past Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed had assured Nigerians that the Muhammadu Buhari administration would review the criteria currently being used by development banks in the country to disburse loans to medium and small scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the country in order to ensure geographical spread.
Hajia Zainab Ahmed gave the assurance at the National Assembly when she appeared before the Senate Sani Musa led ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the alleged uneven disbursement of the N500 billion federal government loans.
The former Minister pledged to meet with the development banks management and their regulators, the Central Bank of Nigeria, to carry out the review of the criteria for loan disbursement.
Credit: Nigerian Tribune