Independence Day Broadcast: Tinubu lied on N30tn Ways & Means clearance – Economist

An economist, Kelvin Emmanuel has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s declaration that the Federal Government has cleared the N30 trillion ways and means advance from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Emmanuel disclosed this while reacting to Tinubu’s 64th Independence Day nationwide broadcast on Tuesday.

The President has in the broadcast declared that the N30 trillion ways and means advance incurred by the past administration has been cleared.

However, reacting to Tinubu’s statement, Emmanuel explained that the Federal Government through the Debt Management Office, DMO, securitized N22.7 trillion of the total N30.6 trillion ways and means advance.

“Was it the CBN that told the President they had cleared N30 trillion in ways and means debt or it was the President’s handlers that inserted it in the speech?

“Recall the DMO securitized the debt into a 40-year government bond at 9 percent interest with a 3-year moratorium. Payment begins in 2026 (even if Section 38 says the Central Bank as underwriter to all FG loans cannot be a guarantor in a transaction where it’s an interested party).

“The one the Ministry of Finance has been drawing down on is the N7 trillion that was not securitized and that was attracting Monetary Policy Rate + 3,” he stated.