The House of Representatives has thre@tened to issue a warrant for the arrest of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, over the apex bank’s alleged failure to remit N5.2 trillion in operating surplus to the federal government.
This thre@t follows the governor’s repeated refusal to appear before the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Public Assets, which is investigating vi%lations of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and Finance Act 2020 regarding unremitted operating surpluses, unclaimed dividends, and dormant bank accounts.
In a joint statement signed by committee chairmen Bamidele Salam and Ademorin Kuye, the lawmakers said the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation had flagged the N5.2 trillion figure, which covers the 2016 to 2022 fiscal years. The Fiscal Responsibility Commission reportedly corroborated this claim in a separate submission to the National Assembly.
Citing the Finance Act 2020, the committee reminded that unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts for over six years must be transferred to the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund, to be managed by a governing council led by the Minister of Finance and the Debt Management Office. This position, they said, has been backed by a legal opinion from the Attorney General of the Federation, opposing the CBN’s claim that the Financial Institutions Act grants it control over such funds.
The committee directed the CBN to remit N3.64 trillion—70% of the undisputed N5.2 trillion within 14 days of receiving a letter dated June 27, 2025, pending reconciliation of disputed amounts. It also instructed the bank to disclose the full amount of unclaimed dividends and dormant balances by June 30 and to transfer the qualifying funds into the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund within 14 days.
The lawmakers expressed concern over the CBN’s noncompliance and warned that failure to appear or act accordingly could compel the House to invoke its constitutional powers to enforce the governor’s appearance.
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