Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), had given a 7-day ultimatum to Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) to account for the allegedly missing N3tn flagged by the Auditor-General, warning of legal action if the bank fails to respond.
SERAP said the allegations, published on September 9, 2025, point to major breaches of financial regulations and constitutional provisions.
The organisation also urged Cardoso to identify individuals responsible for the alleged diversions and hand them over to the ICPC and EFCC, as well as recover all funds involved.
The body, disclosed this through a letter dated November 15, 2025 and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said the Auditor-General’s findings “suggest grave violations of the public trust, the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the CBN Act, and anticorruption standards.”
READ ALSO: SERAP Frowns At Passport Fees Hike, Says Is Discriminatory Against Poor Nigerian
The group also warned that the alleged violations undermine public confidence in the apex bank.
“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,” it said.
According to SERAP’s summary of the report, the Auditor-General queried the non-remittance of over N1.4tn operating surplus, failure to recover N629bn paid to “unknown beneficiaries” under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, and the non-recovery of N784bn in overdue intervention loans.
One of the key portions of the Auditor-General’s report quoted by SERAP states that 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.”
He also raised concerns over the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, noting that “the numbers of beneficiaries who collected the money are unknown.”
The report further questioned intervention spending, with the Auditor-General saying the bank spent “over N125 billion [N125,374,000,000.00] ‘on questionable intervention activities’” without supporting documents.
SERAP added that the CBN spent over N1.7bn on operational vehicles for the Nigeria Immigration Service, noting the Auditor-General’s remark that the spending was “unjustified because there is no connection with buying operational vehicles for the NIS and the objectives of the CBN.”
The organisation reminded the CBN of its constitutional obligations and insisted that Nigerians “have the right to know the whereabouts of the public funds,” SERAP said, just as it also threatened that it would take legal action if the bank fails to respond within seven days.
