The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), seven days to promptly account for and explain the whereabouts of the missing or diverted N3 trillion of public funds as documented in the recently published 2022 annual report by the Auditor-General of the Federation.
According to SERAP, the grave allegations are documented in the latest annual report published by the Auditor-General on September 9, 2025.
SERAP urged Cardoso to identify those responsible for the missing or diverted public funds and hand them over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and prosecution.
It also urged him to ensure the full recovery and return of any missing public funds to the treasury without further delay.
In the letter dated November 15, 2025, and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “These grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest grave violations of the public trust, the provisions of the Nigerian constitution 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, and anti-corruption standards.
“These grave violations also reflect a failure of CBN accountability more generally and are directly linked to the institution’s persistent failure to comply with its Act and to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability.
“These violations have seriously undermined the ability of the CBN to effectively discharge its statutory functions and the public trust and confidence in the bank.
“The CBN ought to be committed to transparency and accountability in its operations.
“According to the Auditor-General, the CBN in 2022 failed to remit over N1 trillion [N1,445,593,400,000.00] of ‘the Federal Government’s portion of operating surplus’ into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account.
“The Auditor-General fears that the money may have been ‘diverted.’ He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.
“The CBN in 2022 failed to recover over N629 billion [N629,040,000,000.00] paid to ‘unknown beneficiaries’ as part of the Anchor Borrowers’ Program, a program meant to support farmers to ensure sustainable food production in the country.
“But the number of beneficiaries who collected the money is unknown.’ The CBN has also failed to ‘recover the money.”
The Auditor-General fears ‘the money may have been diverted’, which could have ‘contributed to the difficulty in sustaining food security in the Nation.’
“He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.
“The CBN has also failed to recover over N784 billion [N784,410,108,864.47] ‘being 32 unpaid, overdue loans and interventions disbursed by the bank between 2018 and May 2022.’
“The Auditor-General said ‘there was no evidence that the bank was doing enough to recover the loans/interventions, which ought to have been paid.’ He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.
“The CBN in 2022 also spent over N125 billion [N125,374,000,000.00] ‘on questionable intervention activities.”
The CBN claimed it spent the money ‘on intervention activities in connection with national security, the Federal Government, state securities, armed forces and to build the capacity of the financial sector’.
“But the Auditor-General is concerned that the money may have been spent ‘without the approval of the National Assembly.’ There was also no document to ‘support the expenditure.’
“The ‘expenditure also may not have been in the public interest and consistent with the objectives of the CBN in section 2 of the CBN Act.”
The Auditor-General fears the money may have been ‘diverted.’ He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.
“The CBN in 2022 also ‘unjustifiably’ spent over N1 billion [N1,792,769,160.00] to buy 43 operational vehicles for the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
“The spending is unjustified because there is no connection with buying operational vehicles for the NIS and the objectives of the CBN as stated in section 2 of the CBN Act.
“The NIS also ‘failed to provide any evidence to show that the vehicles were actually supplied and delivered.’ There ‘were also no procurement and payment records or documents.”
The Auditor-General fears the money may have been ‘diverted’. He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.
“The CBN also awarded 43 contracts for over N189 billion [N189,50,066,756.73] but ‘the contractors deliberately delayed completion of these contracts’ by seeking ‘extension of the completion period.’
“The contractors then ‘requested for variation of contracts due to extension of completion period.’ Following the request, the CBN paid the contractors over N9 billion [N9,270,849,691.61] ‘irregular variation of contract price.’
“There were no relevant procurement documents such as contract files, procurement records, and payment vouchers for the payment.
“The Auditor-General fears ‘the money may have been diverted’ and the projects may have been abandoned.”
He wants the money recovered and remitted to the treasury.
“The Katsina State branch of the CBN also failed to recover over N90 million [N90,163,610.00] being ‘outstanding loans and interventions disbursed to 33 small and medium enterprises during Covid 19 in 2020.”
(SERAP)
