Senate requests CBN to forfeit N180 billion in loans made through the NIRSAL MFB

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been advised to write off the trapped N180 billion in loans given to Nigerians during the coronavirus pandemic by the Senate ad hoc committee, which is looking into claims of uneven loan, grant, and intervention disbursement in the six geographic zones.

This was disclosed by the committee’s chairman, Senator Sani Musa, at a hearing on the subject.

“In my opinion, NISRAL offered the money to Nigerians as a grant since I fail to see how you would be able to recoup more than $500 billion from the requirements necessary to obtain these loans. Let’s ask CBN to provide NISRAL with new financing because retrieving this money will be challenging due to the period it was disbursed.

“About N180 billion is outs and has gone. After all, countries such as the U.S. gave their citizens free money over four times during the pandemic. So, for the bank to be able to meet its obligations, fresh funds should be released to them,” Musa was quoted in a statement issued by NIRSAL yesterday.