E-Financial
Senate Probes CBN’s N138Bn Intervention Funds
The Senate has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of awarding projects from its operating surplus, instead of paying such sums into the Consolidated Revenue Fund to be appropriated by the National Assembly.
The upper legislative house has therefore moved to investigate alleged extra-financial dealings in the Sanusi Lamido Sanusi-led apex bank, running into about N138billion.
Senator Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) said that the CBN, has within the last three years committed about N50billion as intervention in tertiary institutions in the education sector alone, not considering intervention in the health sector, hospitality and tourism among others.
These projects, according to him, include projects above N1billion.
In the motion, Enang is praying the Senate to grant the following:
“Mandate the Senate Committees of Finance, Judiciary Human Rights and Legal Matters, to conduct a public hearing on the loss of revenue into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation through evasion of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, acting against and beyond the mandate given by law to the agencies, breach and evasion of public procurement laws and regulations, among others, and in general, for the purposes of determining:
“If and whether the funds spent by the agencies listed in the Fiscal Responsibility Act is the 20% of their operating surplus, and if it so be, where the 80% of their operating surplus were paid into and when.
“If the committal of funds by the Agencies are for projects and programmes within the core mandate or in any manner ancillary to the purpose for which they were each set up, etc.
“If and whether these Agencies are by the provisions of the Public procurement Act bound to submit their procurement to the Bureau of Public Procurement to consider, vet and issue a certificate of No Objection or otherwise before public procurements are consummated.
“By way of peer review, to compare the actions and expenditures of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Nigeria Ports Authority and other Agencies listed in the Fiscal Responsibility Act with such Treasury or Central Bank of other countries, National Oil Companies of other countries such as United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, France, Australia and generally equivalent institutions of other countries and conclude if such institutions in those countries operate in the manner that Nigeria’s do.
“To determine if, and whether, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission as presently constituted should not be dissolved and appropriately reconstituted with responsive constituents.”
The senator further informed that the Senate noted that, “Whereas the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides in Section 80 (1) as follows: All revenues or other moneys raised or received by the Federation (not being revenues or other moneys payable under this Constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the Federation established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and form one Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
“Whereas the Fiscal Responsibility Act in Section 21 has provided that all government agencies and corporations as listed in the schedule to the Act cause to be prepared and submitted to the Minister their Schedule estimates of revenue and expenditure for the next three financial years who shall cause same to be compiled and submitted along with the Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly.
“Whereas the said Act provides in Section 22 (1) and (2) and 23 (1) as follows:
22. Operating surplus and general reserve fund
1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any written law governing the corporation, each corporation shall establish a general reserve fund and shall allocate thereto at the end of each financial year, one-fifth of its operating surplus for the year.
2) The balance of the operating surplus shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government not later than one month following the statutory deadline for publishing each corporation’s accounts.
23. Classification of corporation operating surplus
1) The corporation’s surplus be classified as a Federal Treasury Revenue
“Whereas the Public Procurement Act in Section 3 (1) establishes an agency known as the Bureau of Public Procurement;Whereas the Public Procurement Act provides in Section 15 that the provisions of the Act shall apply to all procurement of goods, works, and services carried out by
1. The Federal Government of Nigeria and all procurement entities;
2. All entities outside the foregoing description which derive at least thirty-five percent of funds appropriated or proposed to be appropriated for any type of procurement described in this Act from the Federation share of Consolidated”
The motion is already listed and could be taken up when the Senate resumes.
The CBN governor had in the past rebuffed every entreaty by the National Assembly to have their budget vetted.
On several occasions Sanusi had cited the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and in most cases, insisted that it was only the board of the CBN that had the statutory powers to appropriate for him.
World Bank has approved an additional $65 million loan for Nigeria to support the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, increasing the total financing for the initiative to $145 million.
The approval was granted on June 24, 2025, according to details posted on the World Bank’s website, which also indicates that the project’s status has moved to “active” following the approval.
The SPESSE project, initially launched with an $80 million loan approved in February 2020, aims to strengthen institutional capacity for managing procurement, environmental, and social standards in both the public and private sectors across Nigeria.
The World Bank described the project’s development objective as the establishment of sustainable capacity in these areas.
This latest approval is part of a broader wave of financing expected from the World Bank to Nigeria in 2025.
The bank is scheduled to approve loans totalling $1.61 billion over the coming months, supporting various development initiatives.
Among these is a $300 million loan for the ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project,’ expected to be finalised by the end of July.
This project aims to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in selected local government areas in northern Nigeria.
In September, the World Bank plans to approve four additional loans: a $10.5 million facility to support technical assistance for the Central Bank of Nigeria, a $300 million Health Security Program targeting Western and Central Africa (Nigeria – Phase IV), a $500 million project for building resilient digital infrastructure (BRIDGE), and a $500 million loan under the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth project aimed at promoting sustainable growth and job creation within key agricultural sectors.
Earlier in March 2025, the bank approved three financing requests amounting to $1.13 billion.
These funds are directed towards projects focused on enhancing quality education, boosting household and community resilience, and improving nutrition.
Among the approved loans were $80 million for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 project, $552 million for the HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme, and $500 million for the Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Programme.
In February, the Nigerian government announced expectations of new World Bank loans totalling $2.2 billion for six different projects in 2025. This follows a $1.5 billion loan disbursed in 2024 aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s economic stability and resource mobilisation efforts.
Ecobank, a pan-African financial services group, has partnered with Google Cloud in a deal to improve financial services with advanced analytics, AI and driving digital empowerment across Africa.
This collaboration will focus on leveraging Google Cloud’s advanced technologies and AI to enhance Ecobank’s digital offerings to accelerate the digital transformation of the Bank.
The partnership agreement is designed to empower individuals, support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region, and contribute to the overall economic development of Africa.
“Our collaboration with Google Cloud is a leap forward in Ecobank’s digital transformation journey. We look forward to leveraging Google Cloud’s world-class technology to unlock new possibilities for individuals and businesses to grow and scale across Africa,” said Jeremy Awori, group chief executive officer of Ecobank.
“This collaboration signifies our shared intent to explore building a more connected and financially inclusive future for the continent.”
Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud, stated that Google Cloud and Ecobank have a shared vision for using technology to help deliver financial empowerment to more people and businesses in Africa.
“We look forward to exploring the ways our cutting-edge AI, powerful data analytics, and scalable infrastructure can support Ecobank’s efforts to fuel the continent’s economic development and digital future.”
The collaboration aims to simplify and streamline money transfers, both domestically and across borders. By leveraging Google Cloud’s capabilities, including its powerful data analytics platform, BigQuery, for AI-driven insights, Ecobank will aim to develop solutions that improve access to finance for SMEs, simplify payment acceptance, and provide valuable data-driven insights to help businesses scale across more than 33 countries in Africa.
Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has announced the successful close of the N148.7 billion Rights Issue subscription exercise following the completion of the verification exercise by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and final clearance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Stanbic IBTC Holdings said the Rights Issue was oversubscribed by 21.9 percent, adding that the holding company has injected N140 billion into Stanbic IBTC Bank.
Kunle Adedeji, acting Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc while commenting on the just concluded rights issue programme said that “The turnout and participation of existing shareholders taking up their rights was impressive such that the rights issue was oversubscribed by 21.9percent to the tune of N181.4 billion. Our shareholders’ interest shows the confidence they continue to have in the brand,” he said.
“We appreciate the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria, The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Lead Issuing house, Joint Issuing houses and other stakeholders in the successful completion of the recapitalisation exercise.
“We are optimistic about future opportunities, as the injection of new capital will position us to take advantage of them to enable us to deliver to our shareholders. To all shareholders, we are grateful for your unwavering belief and support for the Stanbic IBTC Brand and your willingness to continue this journey with us,” Adedeji said.
Having received an injection of N140 billion from the parent company, the Chief Executive of the Banking subsidiary, Wole Adeniyi, remarked that “the injection of the new capital into the banking subsidiary is a positive development. This will enable the Bank to seize additional opportunities within the industry and enhance our Single Obligor Limit (SOL).
“We deeply appreciate the dedication and hard work of our regulators, issuing houses, and all other stakeholders. We extend our sincere gratitude for your continued support.”
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