Seven most shocking CBN probe findings: $6.2m for election observers, others

The special investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu to investigate the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria submitted its report on December 9.

The investigation, initiated in July, aimed to comprehensively examine the monetary authority under Godwin Emefiele’s leadership. Emefiele has been in detention since June.

The central bank faced notable controversies, including the unauthorized printing of N23.7 trillion for the federal government over the past nine years.

Special investigator Jim Obazee, former chief executive officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, has made stunning revelations.

As suspected, the central bank printed more than earlier reported. It ran hundreds of foreign accounts without approval. Former finance minister Zainab Ahmed played a role in the abuse of the government lending facility, Ways and Means.

Officials brazenly stole public money, according to the report, a part of which was seen by Pluboard. The details were first published by Premium Times.

More revelations will be coming, some even more explosive. For now, we pick out the seven most shocking findings of the report presented by the investigator, who wants Mr Emefiele and his collaborators prosecuted.

Illegal foreign accounts

The report says the CBN under Mr Emefiele opened 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom and China, where the bank and its officials kept funds without authorisation by the bank’s board and its investment committee.

The special investigator found 543.4 Pounds in the UK, kept in fixed deposit accounts.

Buhari’s aide originated Naira redesign

According to the investigator, Mr Emefiele said the idea for the controversial redesign of naira just week before crucial national elections came from Tunde Sabiu, aide to former President Muhammadu Buhari, suggesting the decision might have originated from Mr Buhari.

This speaks to the lack of independence of the bank and its readiness to be manipulated by political actors, a real risk for the country’s monetary policy position.

The investigator says the decision was a “conspiracy against the Nigerian people and specifically the political class” by Mr Emefiele and Folashodun Shonubi, one of the bank’s deputy governors, who would later be appointed acting governor after Mr Emefiele’s removal.

Still, the investigator said record showed that the bank’s director of currency, Ahmed Umar, under the supervision of Mr Folashodun, had written on 25 August 2022 to the committee of governors advising that notes be redesigned.

Mr Emefiele then wrote to President Buhari for approval on October 6, and strikingly, got approval the same day. He did not consult with the management of the bank nor seek a recommendation from its board as required by law.

That he got approval the same day is another indication of how badly rigged the nation’s monetary system was under Mr Buhari. The president only directed that the notes be printed locally.

With the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc dithering on security design features, Mr Emefiele took the job to the UK firm. The bank agreed to print new N500, N200 and N100 notes worth N769.6 billion at the cost of N61.5 billion.

Multibillion naira legal fees

Remember that some governors went to court to challenge the decision to redesign the notes and invalidate existing bills? The matter went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the governors.

How much did the CBN pay lawyers it hired? Well, not so much. Just N1.73 billion! The bank said it spent the whopping amount on 19 cases.

Almighty “Ways and Means” was more

It was all clear that the CBN under Mr Emefiele illegally printed money for the federal government to cover its deficit for years. The figure quoted in the central bank’s online record was N23.7 trillion. The special investigator said it was more.

Mr Obazee reported that N26.627 trillion was printed. He said there were fraudulent intervention programmes and fraudulent expenditures on COVID-19, to which monies retired under the Ways and Means were channelled.

Former minister, chief of staff and others padded N200 billion

While the massive injection of trillions of naira was already illegal and injurious to the economy, even with presidential approvals, the investigator said the bank still could not provide evidence of presidential approval for some major withdrawals, meaning monies were possibly stolen.

In one astonishing case, top officials including former finance minister Zainab Ahmed and the president’s chief of staff unlawfully increased the amount they withdrew above what the president approved. Mr Buhari approved N801 billion but N1 trillion was taken – additional N199 billion.

“It was a surprise, Mr President, that under the last administration, the noble outlet became a huge source of fraudulent drain pipe for the then Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the erstwhile CBN Governor, all the four deputy CBN Governors (under the guise of COG), the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General of the Federation and even the then Chief of Staff,” Mr Obazee wrote.

“In an instance, they padded what the former President Muhammadu Buhari approved with N198,963,162,187 (approximating an approval of N801,036,937,813 to N1 trillion).”

He said: “There are instances where no approvals are received from the former President Muhammadu Buhari and yet, N500 billion is taken and debited to Ways and Means.

Outright stealing

Still on Ways and Means. The investigator said there were instances when the CBN governor and his four deputy governors “connived to steal out-rightly in order to balance the books of the CBN.”

“This was by violently taken (sic) money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account and then charged it to “Ways and Means,” he said.

“The CBN officers and even the then Acting CBN Governor could not produce the Presidential Approval of most of the expenses described as “Ways and Means”.

$6.23 million for foreign election observers

This is perhaps the most shocking. Worldwide, foreign election observers are known to bear the cost of their travels. The European Union for instance pays for its observers to be in any country for elections.

But the special investigator says central bank officials removed $6.23 million from the bank’s vault between 7 and 8 February, two weeks before the presidential and National Assembly polls, under a purported presidential approval to pay foreign election observers.

The money was removed from vault of the Foreign Payment Office, Abuja branch of the CBN. The report mentions some names of officials who wrote letters and physically moved the cash but said the names of the beneficiaries were not provided.

“As at date, Abdulwaheed Muhammed has admitted in a written statement that he acted in collaboration with one Bashirdeen Mohammed Maisanu, an assistant director in the Banking Supervision Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria and some persons he is yet to identify, to conceive and carry out the act of stealing the sum of $6.23 million out of the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he wrote.

So, who did they pay a huge $6.23 million in cash to?

Prosecution

Mr Obazee recommends the prosecution of Mr Emefiele and at least 13 other individuals, including his deputy governors, for alleged gross financial offences.