The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Olayemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, demanding an explanation for what it termed the “missing or diverted N3 trillion of public funds” mentioned in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2022 annual report.
SERAP stated that the allegations, which were published on September 9, 2025, indicate significant breaches of financial regulations and constitutional provisions.
The organisation urged Cardoso to identify those responsible for the alleged diversions and to turn them over to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Additionally, they called for the recovery of all involved funds.
In a letter dated November 15, signed by Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP emphasised that the findings of the Auditor-General “suggest grave violations of public trust, the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, and anticorruption standards.”
The group also warned that these alleged violations undermine public confidence in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“These violations have severely compromised the CBN’s ability to effectively fulfill its statutory functions and maintain public trust and confidence in the bank,” they stated.
According to SERAP’s summary of the report, the Auditor-General raised concerns about the non-remittance of over N1.4 trillion in operating surplus, the failure to recover N629 billion paid to “unknown beneficiaries” under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, and the non-recovery of N784 billion in overdue intervention loans.
One of the key portions of the Auditor-General’s report quoted by SERAP states that the CBN “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.”
He also raised concerns over the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, noting that “the numbers of beneficiaries who collected the money are unknown.”
The report further questioned intervention spending, with the Auditor-General saying the bank spent “over N125 billion [N125,374,000,000.00] ‘on questionable intervention activities’” without supporting documents.
SERAP added that the CBN spent over N1.7bn on operational vehicles for the Nigeria Immigration Service, noting the Auditor-General’s remark that the spending was “unjustified because there is no connection with buying operational vehicles for the NIS and the objectives of the CBN.”
The organisation reminded the CBN of its constitutional obligations and insisted that Nigerians “have the right to know the whereabouts of the public funds.”
SERAP said it would take legal action if the bank fails to respond within seven days
