The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied allegations that it diverted $5bn from the federation account.

Background:

A member of the House of Representatives, Ayo Omidiran had raised the issue during plenary.

She said the CBN took advantage of being the custodian of the account to “manipulate the system by opening various accounts not known to the three tiers of government.”

She said in 2014, the sum of $339m was moved out, while in the next year, it was $446.3m.

She added that in 2015, $1.3bn was diverted out of the account in connection with Joint Venture operations.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara admitted the motion for investigation without further debates.

CBN’s response:

But the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Isaac Okorafor said the allegations are false.

He said, “That cannot be true. We need to have the details to respond appropriately. It is not possible to divert any money into any account like that.

“Remember, we keep accounts for government. When we convert forex into naira, we have both selling rate and buying rate, and we make it known to everyone.

“The CBN has nothing to do with any secret account. I am sure if anyone requires clarification on any of our activities, we will be happy to do so. Our operations are clear, structured, professional and always in national interest.”

Azeez