Obinna Chima
Contrary to the allegation by a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, that the account of the federal government domiciled at the central bank had been overdrawn to the tune of N4.7 trillion by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, information obtained by THISDAY monday from the presidency revealed that the net credit balance of the federal government in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as of December 2, 2016, was N1.194 trillion.
Sanusi had said last week that the CBN’s claims on the federal government now topped N4.7 trillion — equal to almost 50 per cent of the FGN’s total domestic debt.
This, he stated, was in clear violation of the Central Bank Act of 2007 (Section 38.2), which caps advances to the federal government at five per cent of last year’s revenues.
However, a breakdown of the figures obtained from reliable sources at the presidency showed that as of December 2, the actual credit balance in the TSA was N2.662 trillion.
In another account, the federal government had overdrawn the account to the tune of N1.468 trillion through ways and means as of December 2, which if netted off against the N2.662 trillion would give a net balance of N1.194 trillion.
A detailed breakdown showed that the federal government’s inflows into the TSA as of December 2 was N4.473, while foreign exchange transfers stood at N101.7 billion, bringing the total balance to N4.575 trillion.
However, if expenses of N1.913 trillion and the ways and means of N1.468 trillion were netted off, the credit balance in the TSA amounted to N1.194 trillion.
A presidency source stressed that despite the emir’s seeming knowledge of these situations, his assertions were “totally false and wholly fabricated”.
“If a customer with XYZ Bank Limited has N100 in one account but has also borrowed N35 from XYZ Bank Limited. Even if the bank were to demand that this customer pays off all his debt to them, he can do so and still have N65 balance with the bank. How is this a problem? How then could Sanusi have reached the conclusion that the CBN’s claims on the FG were over N4.7 trillion? Where did he get this number?” the source asked.
The presidency and the CBN at the weekend had also faulted allegations made by the former CBN governor, saying Sanusi did not get his facts right.
