The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso, and the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, have been summoned to appear before the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Public Assets of the House of Representatives on Monday.
This was disclosed in a joint statement released in Abuja on Saturday by the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bamidele Salam, and his Public Assets counterpart, Ademorin Kuye.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Cardoso and Edun are expected to respond to allegations of non-compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007. They will also address concerns about internal control deficiencies flagged in the 2021 audit report by the Auditor-General for the Federation.
The committees had previously issued a formal invitation to the concerned officials, requesting comprehensive information regarding the remittance of the Central Bank’s operating surplus to the Federation Account, in accordance with existing financial regulations.
NAN further reports that both the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and the Auditor-General for the Federation had submitted reports accusing several Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs)—including the CBN—of either failing to remit or under-remitting their operating surpluses over the past six years, in breach of financial laws.
During an audience feedback survey, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee noted that these financial irregularities had weakened the federal government’s liquidity, thereby hampering the effective execution of budgets approved by the National Assembly.
The committee emphasized that it had allowed sufficient time for the Ministry of Finance and the CBN to reconcile their accounts and clarify their financial positions. This final hearing has therefore been scheduled to conclusively address and resolve the outstanding issues.
