UPDATED: Buhari seeks Senate’s approval to pay N226bn, $556.8m, £98.5m judgement debts

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, has asked the Senate to approve a request to pay the judgement debt in the sum of $566,754,584.31, £98,526,012.00, and N226 billion.

The PUNCH reports that the monies were owed by the Federal Government through the issuance of promissory notes.

Buhari’s letter of request was read at plenary by Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Wednesday.

The letter reads in part, “The Distinguished Senate President may wish to be informed that the Federal Executive Council at its meeting of March 29, 2023, approved the liquidations of top priority judgement debts and general judgement debts owed by Ministries, Departments and Agencies through the issuance of promissory notes.

“The judgement debts are to be settled through the issuance of promissory notes which will then be redeemed over time through provisions in the budgets of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“Thus debt securities have been issued for the settlement of the judgement debts and approval of the National Assembly is required for this purpose.

“In view of the foregoing, I wish to request the Senate to kindly consider and approve through its resolution the settlement of the top priority judgement debts and general judgement debts incurred by Federal MDAs in the sum of USD566,754,584.31, £98,526,012.00 and N226,281,801,881.64 through the issuance of promissory notes.

“The Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, shall provide any information that may be required by the Senate for the consideration of this request.”

Meanwhile, The PUNCH had in January reported that there were 648 cases brought against the president and other FG parastatals.

Malami revealed that Buhari’s regime had secured a conviction in 397 terrorism cases while 7,000 crime and anti-corruption cases had been successfully prosecuted by the government in eight years.

According to the AGF, the secured conviction was out of 3,000 terrorism-profiled charges, of which 1,500 were filed.

“A total of 7,000 cases involving various offences, including maritime, armed robbery, vandalism of electrical equipment and pipelines, financial matters, cybercrime, kidnapping, and anti-corruption, have been successfully prosecuted,” the AGF disclosed while presenting the scorecard for the Federal Ministry of Justice from 2015 to date.

During the period under review, the AGF said significant progress has been made in response to gender-based violence, including the establishment of an inter-ministerial management committee for the eradication of SGBV cases.

He further disclosed that the government has realised the sum of N1,823,788,146.86 from the sale of forfeited properties.

In a similar vein, the AGF said that “in compliance with presidential mandates and foreign judicial processes, the Ministry has recovered the total sums of £6,324,627.66, €5,494,743.71, and $390,000,000 from various jurisdictions.

(Punch)