By Saint Mugaga

The House of Representatives has launched an investigation into the management of N12 trillion injected into Nigeria’s Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in the past seven years.

This was as it inaugurated an Ad-Hoc Committee to investigate the operations, funding, and performance of the DFIs amid growing concerns over the management of the sum.

Speaking at the inauguration on Wednesday, Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Chidi Mark Obetta, said the investigation would take a deep and objective look into how public funds meant to drive industrialisation, agricultural development, small and medium enterprise empowerment, and infrastructural growth have been utilised by the DFIs.

Obetta disclosed that preliminary public reports and sector commentaries suggest that inflows into Nigeria’s DFIs over the last seven years, including government capital injections, budgetary appropriations, bond issuances, concessional loans, and donor funding, are in excess of N12 trillion.

He stressed that this figure remains indicative and subject to verification, adding that the committee would request audited and itemised inflow and utilisation data from each DFI during the course of its investigation.

He said the committee’s work was a response to rising public concern over the transparency, impact, and accountability of the institutions which were established to bridge financing gaps not covered by commercial banks and to serve as engines of inclusive development.

Hon. Obetta expressed gratitude to the Speaker and the leadership of the House for constituting the committee and entrusting it with a responsibility he described as central to the nation’s economic stability and progress. He said the House’s action reflected its commitment to ensuring that institutions created to drive national development truly deliver on their mandates.

He noted that Development Finance Institutions such as the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Nigeria Export-Import Bank, Infrastructure Bank, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, and the Development Bank of Nigeria, among others, have been pivotal to the country’s economic strategy.

However, he said their activities in recent years have raised questions regarding their effectiveness, accountability, and the true impact of their interventions on the economy.

According to him, the committee’s mandate is to carry out a comprehensive examination of the operations, funding mechanisms, and performance of the DFIs to determine how effectively they have fulfilled their mandates and how their resources have been applied.

He said the committee would seek to understand whether the funds allocated to the institutions have been properly managed and whether they have reached the businesses, sectors, and communities they were meant to support.

Obetta explained that the investigation would also look into the measurable outcomes of the DFIs’ interventions, such as the number of jobs created, industries strengthened, exports expanded, and livelihoods improved.

Equally important, he said, would be an assessment of the systems in place for loan recovery and the recycling of funds to ensure that public resources continue to revolve for productive use rather than becoming stranded.

He emphasised that the investigation was not a punitive action or a witch-hunt but a fact-finding and reform-driven process aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity, efficiency, and integrity of the DFIs so that they can better serve the Nigerian people.

The committee, he said, would adopt an open, transparent, and evidence-based approach and would engage extensively with key stakeholders, including the management of the various DFIs, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, relevant development partners, industry experts, and beneficiaries of DFI interventions.

Hon. Obetta pledged that the committee would be guided by objectivity, diligence, fairness, and patriotism in carrying out its work. He assured that every recommendation emerging from the investigation would be practical and implementable, designed to bring about real change in the way Nigeria’s DFIs operate.

He described the assignment as a national duty that requires collective wisdom, discipline, and cooperation, noting that Nigerians are looking to the House not only to expose inefficiencies but also to propose reforms that will reposition the DFIs as genuine catalysts for inclusive and sustainable development.

He called for their partnership, cooperation, and honesty as the committee begins its work, stressing that the collective goal is to ensure that Nigeria’s Development Finance Institutions become truly effective instruments for inclusive growth, poverty reduction, and sustainable national development.

“Together, let us work to ensure that our Development Finance Institutions become truly effective instruments for inclusive growth, poverty reduction, and sustainable national development. They must become models of transparency, efficiency, and impact—institutions that truly empower Nigerians and help lay the foundation for a stronger, more resilient economy,” Obetta said.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, expressed concern over the poor performance of Nigeria’s Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), lamenting that many of them have failed to achieve the objectives for which they were established despite receiving trillions of naira in public funds.

Abbas, who was represented at the inauguration by the Deputy House Leader, Hon. Halims Abdullahi, said it had become clear that the DFIs have not significantly improved Nigeria’s Multidimensional Poverty Index, and their impact on the performance of small and medium enterprises “leaves much to be desired.”

According to him, these institutions, which were meant to fill the financing gaps left by commercial banks, have instead been bogged down by lack of transparency, political interference, and an unwillingness to innovate or take on more risk-driven ventures.

“In a period when economic reforms are being pursued to ensure more inclusive and shared growth, the inadequacies of these development finance institutions have become untenable,” Abbas said. “That is why this review is both timely and necessary.”

The Speaker said the House set up the Ad-Hoc Committee to conduct a detailed and objective review of the DFIs’ operations, funding, and performance over the past seven years.

He said the investigation is expected to clarify how these institutions function, how they utilise public funds, and whether they have delivered on their core mandates of stimulating growth in key sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, exports, and small businesses.

The Speaker stressed that given the critical role DFIs play in national development, all public funds allocated to them must be managed with discipline, transparency, and a clear sense of purpose.

He warned that the House would no longer support future budgetary allocations to any institution that fails to show proof of responsible financial conduct, sound risk management, and measurable economic impact.

“The era of funding without clear justification, public benefit, or performance evaluation must come to an end. This committee must insist that every development finance institution operating with public funds demonstrates measurable results that directly support national economic growth, job creation, and enterprise development. Any institution that cannot justify its allocation through verifiable outcomes will be subject to legislative intervention,” he said.

He also noted that public financing intended for development must be accessible to the productive sectors and citizens it was created to serve, warning against the diversion of funds to questionable ventures or their entrapment in bureaucratic bottlenecks. “This investigation will ensure that funding frameworks are transparent, fair, and structured to reach productive sectors rather than support dubious ventures or remain trapped in bureaucracy,” he said.

He said the findings of this investigation will help the House improve the performance of development finance institutions and expand their impact on the national economy.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Yemi Cardoso, pledged full cooperation with the Ad-Hoc Committee, saying the bank will provide every necessary support to ensure the success of the probe.

Represented by a Director, Ibrahim Hassan, he said the committee’s work comes at a crucial time in Nigeria’s economic development and expressed optimism that its findings would help reposition the DFIs to deliver greater impact in line with their founding mandates.

He explained that the Central Bank of Nigeria is responsible for the regulation and supervision of the nation’s development finance institutions, including the Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Infrastructure Bank, Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), and the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC).

According to him, the CBN conducts routine examinations of these institutions to ensure that they comply with laid down prudential standards and maintain sound financial conditions.

The supervision, he said, focuses on key indicators such as capital adequacy, asset quality, management efficiency, liquidity, and the level of non-performing loans, among others, in order to safeguard their stability and effectiveness.

Hassan commended the House of Representatives for setting up the Ad-Hoc Committee, noting that the decision reflects the National Assembly’s commitment to ensuring that development finance institutions fulfil their mandates of promoting inclusive economic growth.

He assured the lawmakers that the CBN would offer every necessary technical and institutional support to enable the committee carry out its work effectively and produce outcomes that would strengthen the development finance system.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Mr. Abba Bello, expressed strong support for the investigation, describing it as timely and essential to repositioning the institutions for economic growth.

He noted that Nigeria’s economy is currently at a crossroads, making it imperative for the country’s development finance institutions to deliver on their mandates more effectively.

According to him, DFIs such as NEXIM Bank are meant to serve as engines that power growth, create jobs, and expand economic opportunities across sectors.

“I am very pleased that this assignment has been given to this committee by the House of Representatives,” Bello said. “The DFIs in Nigeria should be the engines that will propel the growth of the economy. Nigeria’s economy is at a crossroads now, and the performance and operations of these institutions have become very critical.”

Mr. Bello also emphasized the importance of measuring the performance of DFIs not only by their internal metrics but by their tangible contributions to job creation, industrial expansion, and foreign exchange earnings.

“What matters most is our impact on the economy, the jobs we help create, the industries we support, and the export proceeds we generate for the country,” he added.

He assured the committee that NEXIM Bank would provide all necessary information and documentation required to aid its investigation.

END