- The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says no money is missing or stolen from the financial house as reported in some quarters
- Isaac Okoroafor says the money was a loan to the government for the payment of salaries of workers and pension to retirees
- Okoroafor declares that smear campaigns against the CBN governor and the bank's management will not be successful
The director, corporate communications of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Isaac Okoroafor, has said that no money is missing or stolen from the apex financial house as claimed in a report.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okoroafor said this in a statement on Sunday, May 12, while reacting to a recent article and audio clips in which the CBN Governor and other senior officials were heard discussing discrepancies in the bank’s accounts.
According to Okoroafor, the audio was distorted in a manner which creates a different impression of the matter being discussed, which was to proffer solutions to a misunderstanding that affected the Bank’s balance sheet.
“As publicly known, the CBN was approached in 2015 by the national economic management team and the national economic council chaired by the vice president, to assist state governments with conditional budget support.
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“This happened in the aftermath of the significant nose-dive in global oil prices and associated FAAC allocations.
“In order to ensure that ordinary Nigerian workers got their salaries, pensions and gratuities, and that the economy continued to recover from recession, the bank provided about N650 billion in loans at 9% with a two-year grace period to 35 states of the federation,” the statement said.
Okoroafor said the monies were distributed to the states monthly with documented approval of the ministry of finance and the presidency.
The statement said in closing the Bank’s 2018 accounts, external auditors in their draft account, erroneously classified about N150 billion of these loans as bad, which negatively affected the bank’s balance sheet and shareholders fund.
“The selective conversation being circulated was simply a discussion to ascertain why the auditors took that position and next steps to resolving it.
“Obviously, it soon became clear that a state government loan cannot be classified as ‘bad’ or ‘irrecoverable’ when the state still exists and getting FAAC allocations,” the statement said adding that the bank then reached out to the federal ministry of finance and they jointly gave comfort to the auditors who accepted in writing that these monies would be repaid.
Okoroafor said on this basis, the auditors reversed the negative entry and the certified that the CBN’s 2018 accounts were a true reflection of the state of affairs.
He urged Nigerians to disregard the audio and continue to trust that the bank is doing everything it could to represent their interests in the best possible way.
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“Under the leadership of Governor Emefiele, the CBN has always stood for, and vigorously pursued transparency in its stewardship of public resources and policies.
“The integrity of the CBN governor remains unassailable. He has no account in Dubai or anywhere in the world and would never convert the funds of CBN for personal use. Not in the past, not now and not ever,” he said adding that the use of selective wiretapped conversations of the bank’s management, to malign his character and integrity will never stand.
Legit.ng earlier reported that the CBN, in its bid to ensure the continuous circulation of banknotes that are of good quality, recently came up with punishments for the abuse of the naira notes.
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