The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Sunday scrambled a
rebuttal to deny media reports that it lost over N500 billion after a private
investment by some of its top officials went awry.
Sahara Reporters had reported earlier a telephone
conversation involving the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele; his deputy, Edward
Adamu; the Director of Finance, Dayo Arowosegbe; and the Special Adviser to the
CBN Governor, Emmanuel Ukeje.
The online medium said the discussion of the top CBN
officials was about a plot to cover up the huge loss after a private investment
in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, went bad.
But, the bank in a statement by its spokesperson, Isaac
Okorafor, denied any money was either stolen or missing from is vaults.
It admitted the audio was authentic but said they were
“selective conversations.”
Mr Okorafor said contrary to insinuations that the audio
recording of selective conversations by Mr Emefiele and the officials were
about a fraudulent transaction, it was “simply to proffer solutions to a
misunderstanding that affected the Bank’s balance sheet.”
According to Sahara Reporters, in the audio, Mr Emefiele
was heard saying “To avoid any serious problem is just, the government to have
to agree to give us at least 100 billion cash but the government will not
agree. They will kick against it.”
The officials also discussed the possible reaction of the
opposition as well as the impact of their actions on the economy.
“I’ll have to think of a way out because we cannot afford
it at all.
“The implications are just too many to even think about and
damaging. We cannot allow this like this, we cannot,” Mr Emefiele was quoted as
saying in the audio.
CBN
EXPLAINS AUDIO
According to Mr Okorafor, the National Economic Management
Team and the National Economic Council (NEC), chaired by Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo, had approached the CBN in 2015 to assist state governments with
Conditional Budget Support.
The support was to assist states to pay the salaries,
pensions and gratuities of their workers in the aftermath of the significant
drop in global oil prices and associated Federation Accounts allocations.
He said to facilitate the recovery of the economy from the
continuous impact of the recession, the CBN provided about N650 billion in
loans at 9 per cent with a two-year grace period to 35 states of the
Federation.
“These monies were distributed to the states monthly with
documented approval of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Presidency.
“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,” Mr Okorafor said.
He said the ‘selective conversation’ referred to in the
online report was simply a discussion to ascertain why the auditors took that
position and next steps to resolve it.
The CBN spokesperson said following the discussion, it
became clear to the officials that a state government’s loan cannot be
classified as “bad” or “irrecoverable” when the state still exists and
receiving monthly allocations from FAAC.
Consequently, he said, the CBN reached out to the Federal
Ministry of Finance, which jointly confirmed to the auditors who accepted the
discrepancy in writing that these monies would be repaid.
He said on this basis, the auditors reversed the negative
entry and certified that the CBN’s 2018 accounts were a true reflection of the
state of affairs.
“Reconciliation of Balance Sheet items are regular
conversations amongst senior management of many agencies and should not be
misconstrued as anything but that,” Mr Okorafor said.
He urged all well-meaning Nigerians to disregard the “audio
and continue to trust that the Bank is doing everything it can to represent
their interests in the best possible way.
“Under the leadership of Governor Emefiele, the CBN has
always stood for, and vigorously pursued transparency in its stewardship of
public resources and policies. NO MONIES ARE MISSING OR STOLEN.
“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.
“The use of selective wiretapped conversations of the
Bank’s Management, to malign his character and integrity will never stand. The
Bank will pursue every legal means to bring the perpetrators to justice,” he
said.
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