Akpabio faces uproar over uneven distribution of N500b loan to SMEs

The Godswill Akpabio-led 10th Senate recorded its first rowdy session yesterday, after the Senate President’s rejection of a motion to debate alleged uneven distribution of N500 billion credit facilities to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).

Chief Whip of the Senate, Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC, Borno), had upon commencement of plenary, drawn attention of the Upper Chamber to a motion he sponsored on the same issue of imbalance in the distribution of the loan last year, adding that the outcome of that motion was not concluded before the dissolution of the ninth Senate.

He sought the permission of the Senate President to move the motion for debate afresh. But before Akpabio could utter a word, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Ogun) rose in disagreement to Ndume’s position that the last Senate had not concluded the matter.

Adeola argued that from his discussion with the chairman of the ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the matter, a report was done on the motion and was sent to the Presidency for implementation.

Infuriated by Adeola’s submissions, Senator Aliu Ahmed Wadada (SDP, Nasarawa), rose angrily shouting Point of Order! Point of Order!!

When recognised, Wadada said he is seriously opposed to the imbalance experienced in the distribution of the money, adding that his senatorial district, his state and the entire North were grossly cheated.

Wadada became more furious when the Senate President attempted to rule him out of order on the grounds of citing improper order.

At the point of ruling on the matter, Ndume again rose and insisted that it was morally wrong that the whole North was given only 11 per cent, while only Lagos State got 47 per cent of the loan. He added that his state, Borno, got just one per cent.

Ndume also said that he didn’t see the report, adding that some lawmakers were ambushed to sign the report.

He said: “The former Senate President insisted that I should be a member of the committee because I was the mover of the motion. However, I was not always around whenever they called the meeting. I don’t want to believe that it was deliberate. I swear by God, I have not seen a copy of the report. I am a Senator, I raised the motion because my people were shortchanged. This is a serious matter. N500 billion was distributed. Other geopolitical zones got 11 per cent while my region got only one per cent.

“When you say that you have submitted the report and you ambush people to sign the report only when those that are interested were not around. I didn’t sign any report, I insisted, I am not a young man. You should have given me the report.”

At this point, Akpabio, who interrupted Ndume, said the motion had to be stepped down for more consultation, adding, “I can imagine the passion you have shown on this matter. We’re a corrective 10th Senate. We’re ready to correct anything that you feel was not properly done. The Senate President has already ruled on the matter that it should be stepped down.

“It doesn’t mean that the matter is permanently closed. I will refer you to order 63. If you want to reopen a closed matter, you have to come up with a substantive motion.”

Even after his ruling, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc committee during the 9th Senate, Senator Sani Musa was called by the President of the Senate to clear the air on the issue.

Musa said: “I submitted the report after due consultations with all the agencies like the Bank of Industry, Agricultural Development Bank, Minister of Finance, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency and other agencies that are involved in the palliatives or grants.

“When we were deliberating, we included all senators from each geopolitical zone and were meeting. The Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, attended the meeting twice. The meeting continues. The time that we wanted to submit the report, I called the Chief Whip but he was in Maiduguri. When they submitted the signature sheet to me, I saw that you (Ndume) signed the report of the Committee like any other member. Other members of the committee signed.

At that stage, Ndume interjected and said, “but I have not seen it.”

Sani Musa responded, “but you signed it. You signed it and it is not an interim document. It is a final report and it has been adopted. It was debated here and adopted.”

Senate President, Akpabio, put the motion to either step down the motion or not to vote and majority of the members voted in support.

Akpabio interrupted him stating that 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.”

The motion, which had already been listed in the Senate’s Order Paper for debate and sponsored by Ndume, Senator Bomai Ibrahim Mohammed (APC, Yobe), and Ya’u Sahabi (APC, Zamfara) was tagged “Uneven Disbursement of half a trillion-naira loan to the six geo-political zones by the Development Bank of Nigeria”.

It pointed out that the bank’s Annual Integrated Statutory Report 2021, obtained on 13 July, 2022, from the organisation’s website, showed that the bank disbursed a loan worth N483 billion, out of which only 11 per cent went to the 19 states in the North, while 47 per cent went to Lagos alone.

“The Senate should also be aware that the 11 per cent of the loan that went to the North totals about N53 billion, while the 47 per cent that went to Lagos alone totals N227 billion. We observed that the loans were given out to the six geopolitical zones and the data showed that the Southwest accessed the lion’s share of 57 per cent, which is estimated to be around N274 billion.”

Ndume said it was worrisome that “the South-South region accessed 17 per cent, which is roughly N81 billion; the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the North-Central zone accessed 11 per cent, which is N53 billion; the Southeast accessed a paltry nine per cent, which is about N43 billion, while the Northwest got five per cent at about N24 billion; Northeast at one per cent, the least share of the loan, at about N5 billion.”

He noted that the DBN exists to alleviate financing constraints 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.

According to the motion, “the top five sectors considered for the loan are oil and gas (42 per cent), manufacturing (16 per cent), agriculture, forestry and fishery (7.2 per cent), trade and commerce (6.3 per cent), and transportation and storage (3.5 per cent).”

When the issue was first raised last year, the then Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said the Federal Government would review the criteria currently being used by development banks in the country to disburse loans to MSMEs in order to ensure geographical spread.

The Minister stated this when she appeared before the Senate ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the alleged uneven disbursement of the N500 billion loan last November.

Ahmed, however, cautioned that such a review would not be too flexible to ensure the sustainability of the development banks. Guardian