SERAP Issues Seven-Day Ultimatum to CBN to Account for Alleged Missing N3 Trillion Public Funds or Face Legal Action

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, a stern seven-day ultimatum to account for the alleged “missing or diverted N3 trillion” in public funds cited in the 2022 Annual Report of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF). SERAP warned today, Sunday, November 16, 2025, that failure to comply would result in appropriate legal action.

In a letter dated November 15 and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP argued that the allegations point to grave violations of public trust, the Nigerian Constitution, the CBN Act, and anti-corruption standards, undermining public confidence in the apex bank.

The N3 trillion sum is aggregated from several critical queries raised by the Auditor-General regarding the bank’s operations, particularly concerning its intervention activities and compliance with fiscal regulations.

Core Audit Queries Driving the N3tn Sum

According to SERAP’s breakdown of the AuGF’s report, the CBN is required to explain the fate of several major outstanding funds, including:

• Non-Remittance of Operating Surplus (₦1.445tn): The CBN allegedly failed to remit over ₦1.4 trillion of the Federal Government’s portion of its operating surplus into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

• Unrecovered Intervention Loans (₦784bn): The bank failed to recover over ₦784 billion in 32 overdue intervention loans disbursed between 2018 and May 2022, with no sufficient evidence of recovery efforts.

• Anchor Borrowers’ Funds (₦629bn): Over ₦629 billion paid under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme has reportedly gone to “unknown beneficiaries,” with the CBN failing to recover the funds.

• Questionable Spending (₦125bn): The audit queried the spending of over ₦125 billion on various intervention activities without the requisite supporting documents.

SERAP urged Governor Cardoso to not only account for the funds but also to identify the officials responsible for the alleged diversions and hand them over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for prosecution. The organization insisted that the Nigerian public “have the right to know the whereabouts of the public funds.”