The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, demanding a full explanation for what it described as “missing or diverted N3 trillion” highlighted in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2022 annual report.
SERAP said the findings, published on September 9, 2025, reveal significant violations of financial regulations, constitutional provisions, and the CBN Act. The organisation urged Cardoso to disclose the identities of officials involved in the alleged diversions, hand them over to the ICPC and EFCC, and ensure full recovery of all misappropriated funds.
In a letter dated November 15 and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP stated that the Auditor-General’s report “suggests grave violations of public trust” and undermines confidence in the apex bank’s ability to fulfill its statutory duties.
“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,” SERAP said.
According to the group’s summary of the audit, the Auditor-General queried several financial discrepancies, including the non-remittance of over N1.4 trillion in operating surplus, failure to recover N629 billion paid to unknown beneficiaries under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, and non-recovery of N784 billion in overdue intervention loans.
One of the report’s major highlights noted 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.
The Auditor-General further raised concerns about the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, stating that the identities of many beneficiaries who collected funds remain unknown. He also flagged intervention spending, noting that the bank expended “over N125 billion on questionable intervention activities” without proper documentation.
Additionally, SERAP cited the CBN’s expenditure of more than N1.7 billion on operational vehicles for the Nigeria Immigration Service, which the Auditor-General described as unjustified and unrelated to the bank’s mandate.
SERAP reminded the CBN of its constitutional responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability, stressing that Nigerians “have the right to know the whereabouts of public funds.” The organisation warned that it would pursue legal action if the CBN fails to respond within seven days.
