The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, to account for or explain an alleged N3 trillion missing funds cited in the 2022 annual report of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
The group said the report reveals a violation of public trust as provided in extant laws, including the CBN Act, and a lack of accountability on the part of CBN.
“We’ve given Mr Olayemi Cardoso, @cenbank governor, seven days to account for and explain the whereabouts of the missing or diverted N3 trillion of public funds, as documented in the recently published 2022 annual report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, or face legal action.
“These grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest grave violations of the public trust, the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, and anticorruption standards.
“These grave violations also reflect a failure of CBN accountability more generally and are directly linked to the institution’s persistent failure to comply with its Act and to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability,” SERAP posted on its X handle on Sunday, November 16.
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The human rights group had, in a letter reportedly dated November 15, 2025, and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, described the audit findings as evidence of grave violations of public trust, the Nigerian Constitution, the CBN Act, and anticorruption laws.
It pointed out that the Auditor-General’s report uncovered significant financial irregularities, including the non-remittance of over N1.4 trillion in operating surplus to the consolidated revenue fund (CRF), unrecovered N629 billion allegedly paid to unknown beneficiaries under the anchor borrowers’ programme, and failure to recover N784 billion in overdue intervention loans.
“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 stated.
It quoted a section of the investigative report as revealing, “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.”
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The human rights advocate also highlighted that the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme was riddled with opacity, stating that “the number of beneficiaries who collected the money is unknown.”
Another controversial expenditure includes over N125 billion allegedly spent on “questionable intervention activities” without any supporting documents.
The report also questioned the CBN’s decision to spend N1.7 billion on operational vehicles for the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), a move described by the Auditor-General as “unjustified and unrelated to the CBN’s objectives.”
SERAP also demanded that it must identify and hand over all those involved in the alleged diversion to anti-graft agencies, including the EFCC and ICPC, for prosecution, while insisting on the recovery of all misappropriated funds.
“Nigerians have the right to know the whereabouts of the public funds,” SERAP maintained, threatening legal action should CBN fail to comply within seven days.
Alex is a business journalist cum data enthusiast with the Pinnacle Daily. He can be reached via ealex@thepinnacleng.com, @ehime_alex on X
