Elijah Adebero
The Federal Government has been borrowing from recovered loot to fund the Nigeria budget.
These are the words of the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.
The minister also revealed that the government has not been able to repay the loans taken so far.
She revealed this while appearing before the House of Representatives committee investigating recovered loot on Thursday.
The minister appeared alongside the Accountant General of the federation, Ahmed Idris.
The lawmakers however condemned the withdrawals from the accounts without the funds being transferred to the consolidated account.
A member of the committee, Wole Oke, said the government withdrew N19 billion from the EFCC recovery account and transferred it to the African Development Bank (AfDB) with evidence of budgetary allocation.
He added that the government also borrowed N20 billion to fund the budget of the Ministry of Defence.
“From the EFCC Account, you took N19 billion. You took a whole N19 billion from the EFCC account and paid an international organisation. N19 whole billion is not remitted here. I am sure the accountant-general is familiar with this money. On what basis did you withdraw or transfer the money?”
The Chairman of the Committee, Adejoro Adeogun. queried the Accountant General for N150 million, which according to him is missing.
The committee also resolved to invite Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, to explain the status of the accounts.
The committee adjourned till Friday.
