The Nigerian Senate has set up an ad-hoc committee to probe the disbursement of over N480 billion intervention funds by the Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN.
The Bank was established to assist Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria by providing finances, credit guarantees, and other technical services.
The probe was instituted by the upper legislative chamber following a recent allegation by Senator Ali Ndume that the fund was not fairly distributed to the six geo-political zones in the country.
The senator representing Borno South has accused the bank of shortchanging the 19 northern states in the distribution of the fund, saying that the modalities favoured the south.
For instance, Senator Ndume claimed that Lagos state received 47 percent, while the entire 19 northern states received 11 percent of the N483 billion.
According to the breakdown of the loan presented by Ndume, “the South West got 57 percent worth N274.740bn; South-South got 17 percent worth N81.94bn; North Central got 11 percent worth N53.02bn; South East got nine percent worth N43.38bn; North West got five percent worth N24.1bn; North West and North East got just one percent worth N4.82bn.”
In a bid to resolve the issue, the Senate has now set up a seven-man Ad- hoc Committee to carry out a thorough investigation. The committee has four weeks to report back to the Senate, according to Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Akpabio named Senator David Umahi as the chairman of the committee while other members are senators Babangida Oseni, Ali Ndume, Sani Musa, Tokunbo Abiru, Ipalibo Banigo and Chizoba Chukwu.
