The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Olayemi Cardoso, demanding a full account of what it alleges to be N3 trillion missing or diverted public funds flagged in the 2022 report of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
SERAP said the findings, which became public on September 9, 2025, highlight serious violations of financial regulations and constitutional provisions, insisting that the concerns must be addressed urgently.
In a letter dated November 15 and signed by its Deputy Director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation asked the CBN governor to name all individuals involved in the alleged financial breaches and hand them over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission for investigation. It also demanded immediate recovery of all implicated funds.
“The Auditor-General’s findings suggest grave violations of public trust, the Nigerian Constitution, the CBN Act and established anti-corruption standards,” SERAP said.
According to the group, the alleged lapses have weakened confidence in the apex bank.
SERAP’s breakdown of the Auditor-General’s queries includes the non-remittance of more than N1.4tn operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, failure to recover N629bn reportedly disbursed to unknown beneficiaries under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, and the non-recovery of N784bn in overdue intervention loans.
One of the key concerns raised in the Auditor-General’s report states that the CBN “failed to remit over N1 trillion [N1,445,593,400,000.00]” belonging to the Federal Government.
The report also questioned the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, noting that “the number of actual beneficiaries who received the funds remains unknown,” while describing some intervention expenditures of over N125bn as “questionable” due to missing supporting documents.
SERAP further criticised the CBN for spending more than N1.7bn on operational vehicles for the Nigeria Immigration Service, quoting the Auditor-General’s remark that the spending was unjustified and unrelated to the bank’s mandate.
The organisation insisted that Nigerians have a right to know how public funds are managed, warning that legal action would be taken if the CBN fails to respond within the given timeframe.