A heated debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday ended in chaos as opposition lawmakers staged a walkout over a bill seeking to increase the ways and means cash advances from 5% to 10%.
Gatekeepers News reports that the controversy began when Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda proposed an amendment to reduce the advances to 2%, citing the need for transparency in federal government spending. However, the amendment was rejected, leading to a heated exchange between lawmakers.
James Faleke, Chairman of the Committee on Finance, argued that reducing the advances below 5% would be unwise, while Ibrahim Isiaka suggested increasing it to 10%. Idris Wase, a former Deputy Speaker, moved a motion to maintain the 10% increase, which was narrowly approved despite louder “nays” than “ayes” in the voice vote.
The opposition lawmakers, led by Chinda, expressed their dissent by walking out of the plenary session. The report was subsequently adopted and passed for third reading.
The ways and means facility allows the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to finance the federal government’s budget shortfalls, but the existing law limits advances to 5% of the previous year’s revenue. However, this limit has been breached in recent years, with the Senate approving a N22.7 trillion ways and means loan in May 2023.
The controversy surrounding the ways and means facility has also been linked to a fraud case involving the CBN’s loan, with former Governor Godwin Emefiele and former Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed accused of mismanaging the funds.
