The Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI) has dismissed reports alleging that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) failed to remit ₦17.44 trillion in public funds, describing the claims as misleading and unsupported by audit records.
In a statement jointly signed on Monday in Abuja by its Executive Director, Yomi David, and the organisation’s Public Relations officer, Adeniran Taiwo, TADI said the allegations arose from a gross misinterpretation of the 2022 Auditor-General’s Report on Non-Compliance.
According to the group, the Auditor-General’s report merely raised an audit query relating to the recomputation of the CBN’s operating surplus for the 2022 financial year, estimated at about ₦1.445 trillion.
TADI stressed that the issue predates the assumption of office of the current CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, in September 2023, and therefore cannot be attributed to his administration.
The organisation explained that the report identified outstanding revenues totalling ₦1.768 trillion across 12 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), with the CBN accounting for the largest unresolved figure due to accounting and reconciliation differences.
It emphasised that such audit queries point to the need for clarification and improved documentation, not evidence of financial mismanagement.
TADI further described reports alleging ₦16 trillion in unremitted funds as fictitious, noting that the figure does not appear anywhere in the 2022 Auditor-General’s Report.
“The ₦16 trillion figure is a political extrapolation, not an audit finding. There is no documentary or factual basis for claims that such an amount was unremitted or mismanaged by the CBN leadership,” the group said.
The organisation argued that accountability must be tied to periods of administrative authority and cautioned against holding Cardoso responsible for audit issues that arose before his tenure.
It described attempts to link the current CBN leadership to pre-2023 audit queries as unfair, illogical and contrary to established global public finance principles.
