On Wednesday, the Senate restarted an alleged uneven disbursement of intervention loans to the tune of N483bn by the Development Bank of Nigeria shared among the six geopolitical zones in the country.
The Senate towards resolving the issue raised by Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) last week, set up a seven-man Ad- hoc Committee to carry out a holistic investigation into the matter and report back to the Senate in four weeks for further legislative action.
Senator David Umahi was named chairman of the committee while other members are senators Babangida Oseni, Ali Ndume, Sani Musa, Tokunbo Abiru, Ipalibo Banigo and Chizoba Chukwu.
Again, at the plenary, Ndume (Borno South) moved the motion which was supported by 64 other senators on the need to holistically investigate the disbursement of loans by the Development Bank of Nigeria, NIRSAL, and related banks to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria from 2015 to date.
Ndume and three others were investigated by an ad-hoc committee in the 9th Senate and a report was submitted by the panel headed by Senator Sani Musa (Niger East).
Deliberating on the motion at the plenary on Wednesday, the Senate noted the huge disparity and ‘uneven’ distribution of half a billion naira to states in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and the states in the country in 2021 by the Development Bank of Nigeria.
Ndume said, “Aware that the bank’s annual integrated statutory report 2021obtained on 13th July 2022 from the organisation’s website showed that the bank disbursed a loan worth N483bn only out of which only 11 per cent went to the 19 states of Northern Nigeria, while 47per cent went to Lagos State alone.
“Also aware that the 13 per cent of the loan that went to the North totals about N53.13bn, while the 47 per cent that went to Lagos State N227.01bn only.”
According to the breakdown of the loan presented by Ndume, “the South West got 57 per cent worth N274.740bn; South-South got 17 per cent worth N81.94bn; North Central got 11 per cent worth N53.02bn; South East got nine per cent worth N43.38bn; North West got five per cent worth N24.1bn; North West and North East got just one per cent worth N4.82bn.”
Recall that the Development Bank of Nigeria exists to alleviate financing constraints being faced by Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria by providing finances, partial credit guarantees, and technical assistance to eligible financial intermediaries on a market-conforming and fully financially sustainable basis.
Ndume also noted that the top five sectors considered for the loan were oil and gas (42.0 per cent), manufacturing (16.0 per cent), agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (7 .2 per cent), trade and commerce (6.3 per cent), and transportation and storage (3.5 per cent).
