The House of Representatives on Wednesday summoned the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, over what lawmakers described as over N16 trillion in unremitted revenues and operating surpluses.
The decision followed a motion presented by the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bamidele Salam, who drew attention to financial discrepancies highlighted in the 2022 Auditor-General of the Federation’s report.
According to the report cited on the House floor, the apex bank allegedly failed to remit more than ₦5 trillion in operating surpluses and an additional ₦11 trillion in generated revenue into government accounts. The disputed funds reportedly relate in part to charges collected through the Remita Revenue Collection System between March 2015 and April 2016.
Proceedings briefly stalled as lawmakers debated whether to set up an ad-hoc panel or allow the Public Accounts Committee to continue handling the matter a disagreement that reflected the political weight of compelling the CBN Governor to appear.
The chamber eventually agreed that the Public Accounts Committee should continue the investigation, clearing the path for Cardoso’s appearance.
The development comes weeks after the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) demanded clarification from the CBN regarding what it called “missing or diverted N3 trillion of public funds” identified in the same 2022 audit report. SERAP urged the bank to recover all allegedly unaccounted funds and hand over any implicated officials to anti-corruption agencies for investigation.
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