Contravening Section 50 (1) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act, the CBN has failed to publish its financial report for the 2024 financial year. This failure does not only spell a lack of investor’s trust in the country’s apex bank but the National Assembly and Presidency’s silence is a major concern.

The CBN publishes its annual financial statements on its Digital Commons Repository, but a check through its ‘Most Recent Additions’, which was last updated as of Tuesday, showed that the 2024 financial report was yet to be published.

The CBN Act of 2007 mandates that the CBN “shall within two months after the close of each financial year, transmit to the National Assembly and the President a copy of its annual accounts certified by the Auditor”.

For clarity, Nigeria’s 2024 financial year ended on December 31. Inferentially, the CBN has defaulted its legal duty by 25 days. But the issue is bigger. This is because the 2023 financial year report was also not published.

FIJ also found that the CBN failed to publish its report for the 2023 financial year.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CBN FINANCIAL REPORT

The financial report contains the CBN’s assets, liabilities and equity for the year. The assets include foreign reserves, loans to banks and currency in circulation, while liabilities include government deposits, public debt and outstanding obligations.

The report also states the apex bank’s revenue and expenses over the financial year. Revenue sources could include fees and commissions from banking reserves.

The cash flow statement in and out of the CBN, like Ways and Means, is also a component of the document.

LONGSTANDING CONTROVERSIES ON THE FINANCIAL REPORT

There were more violations of this legal duty of the CBN under the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. Between 2015 and 2023, the bank did not publish its annual financial statements but instead released a consolidated financial statement for the 2022 financial year in August 2023.

The consolidated reports only came due to the public outcry on how the Buhari government overshot the Ways and Means benchmark.

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Section 38 (2) of the CBN Act pegs the Ways and Means at five per cent of the previous year’s actual revenue. The Act further states that before any advances can be granted, the previous advance must be paid. Buhari ignored this limit.

Because the Act provides that the advance payment clause could be bypassed if the National Assembly approves another Ways and Means, the 9th Assembly approved up to N30 trillion for the Buhari administration.

In 2024, Barau Jibrin, the 9th Assembly Deputy Senate President and chairman of the Appropriations Commission Committee, explained that the Senate approved the N30 trillion without proper details and background information. When they queried the executive for more details about the loan, they were promised an explanation but it never came.

Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President of the 10th Assembly said the country was plunged into economic hardship due to the ways and means problem. However, despite the Senate having the power to summon the CBN Governor to explain the delay, the Akpabio-led Senate has chosen to keep mute.