The House of Representatives Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Public Assets has threatened to issue an arrest warrant for Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, over his repeated refusal to appear before lawmakers investigating N3.64 trillion in unremitted operating surplus and dormant funds.
In a joint statement issued Friday by committee chairmen Bamidele Salam and Ademorin Kuye, the lawmakers expressed frustration over Cardoso’s consistent failure to honour formal invitations from the National Assembly. The committee is probing alleged breaches of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007 and the Finance Act of 2020, especially in relation to the remittance of operating surpluses, unclaimed dividends, and dormant account balances.
According to the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation, the total unpaid operating surplus from 2016 to 2022 stands at N5.2 trillion. This figure, the lawmakers said, was further corroborated by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.
“The Finance Act 2020 clearly mandates that unclaimed dividends older than six years and balances from dormant bank accounts of the same duration be transferred into the Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund, which is managed by a governing council including the Minister of Finance and the Debt Management Office,” the statement said.
The committee criticized the CBN’s claim that the Financial Institutions Act 2020 gives it control over dormant accounts, stating that the Attorney General of the Federation had clarified that such funds fall under the purview of the Finance Act and must be administered by the designated governing council.
In a resolution issued on June 27, the committee directed the CBN to remit N3.64 trillion—70% of the undisputed operating surplus—within 14 days. The bank was also instructed to provide a full disclosure of unclaimed dividends and dormant balances by June 30, and to transfer the specified funds into the Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund within 14 days of receiving the committee’s letter.
Despite these directives, the lawmakers noted that Cardoso has neither complied with the resolutions nor appeared before the committee to explain his non-compliance.
They warned that the National Assembly would be left with no choice but to invoke its constitutional powers to compel his appearance.
