We’ve been borrowing from recovered loot – Finance Minister tells Reps

The Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed has revealed that the government has been borrowing from recovered loots to fund the budget.

The minister also revealed that the government has not been able to repay back the loans taken so far.

She revealed this while appearing before the House of Representatives committee investigating recovered loots on Thursday.

The minister appeared alongside the Accountant General of the federation, Ahmed Idris.

The lawmakers 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 organization. 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 summon Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, to explain the status of the accounts.

The committee adjourned till Friday.

The development is coming amid controversies over the return of the recovered Ibori loot to the Delta State government.

Recall that the Accountant General of the Federation Ahmed Idris walked back on his comments to a committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday that the fund has been returned to the accounts of the Delta State government.

He made the recant shortly after the Delta Government on Wednesday said that it has not received the 4.2 million pounds recovered from former Gov. James Ibori, which was repatriated from the United Kingdom government.