The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, and the Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, are scheduled to appear before the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Public Assets of the House of Representatives on Monday, to address allegations of non-compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, as well as internal control deficiencies flagged in the 2021 report of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
This was disclosed in a joint statement issued on Saturday in Abuja by the Chairmen of the Committees, Rep. Bamidele Salam (Public Accounts) and Rep. Ademorin Kuye (Public Assets).
The committees had earlier issued letters of invitation to both officials, requesting comprehensive details on the remittance of operating surpluses to the Federation Account, in accordance with applicable laws.
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission and the Office of the Auditor-General had previously submitted findings indicating that numerous Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including the CBN had either failed to remit or under-remitted their operating surpluses over the past six years.
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Rep. Salam noted that such violations had adversely affected the liquidity of the Federal Government and hindered the effective implementation of budgets passed by the National Assembly.
He added that the committees had given the Finance Ministry and CBN sufficient time to reconcile their accounts and submit their positions, leading to the need for a final hearing to resolve the financial discrepancies.
The committees also cited the Auditor-General’s report, which indicated that several publicly funded projects remained incomplete and unused for years despite full payment.
