The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to publications in the media over allegations at the public hearing of the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and Appropriation and Finance, that the CBN operates a secret foreign bank account.<\/p>\n
As banker and financial adviser to the Federal Government and its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the actions and activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria, fall within the principles of banker-customer relationship.<\/p>\n
The CBN does not and cannot open any account for Government and its agencies, unless and until clear and specific instructions, approvals or mandates are issued by the appropriate authorities.<\/p>\n
We wish to state clearly, the following facts regarding the accounts in question:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That the CBN\/NNPC Crude Oil & Gas Account was opened on 16th May, 2002, on the express instruction of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) vide a mandate ref: No; CS\/5385\/S.23\/94\/DDF, dated 15th May, 2002.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That the CBN\/NNPC Gas Account was opened on 3rd February, 2009, following a similar instruction from the Account-General of the Federation, vide mandate ref. No.; FD\/5385\/S.71\/1\/178\/DF, dated 28th January, 2009.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That the two accounts, which were opened as domiciliary accounts, are backed by the appropriate mandates of the OAGF.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That in operating the said Accounts, the NNPC on monthly basis issues instructions to the CBN on how much should be paid as Joint Venture Cash Call (JVC) and how much should be monetised and transferred to the Federation Account for distribution to the three tiers of government. A minimum balance of USD10m is always left in the revenue account.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That on the CBN\/NNPC Gas Account, the NNPC issues monthly mandates to enable the CBN monetize and transfer the balance in the account to the Federation Account, leaving a minimum balance of USD5 million.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That all movements of funds out of the accounts are duly authorized by NNPC.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That the role of the CBN, as banker to Government and MDAs, is limited to the following:
\na.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ensuring that lodgments\/deposits into the accounts are consistent with their requisite mandates;
\nb.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Providing customers with the statements of accounts. In the case of the accounts in question, NNPC and OAGF are provided the statements of account on a weekly basis;
\nc.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ensuring that accounts are reconciled regularly. In the case of the said accounts, this is done with with both JP Morgan Chase and NNPC while the OAGF is availed with monthly reconciliation reports on the accounts.<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Above all, it is important to reiterate for the purposes of clarity, that:
\ni.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mandates to open the accounts were duly authorised by OAGF;
\nii.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 NNPC remains the sole signatory to the accounts;
\niii.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 NNPC issues and authorises\u00a0 the mandates for movement of funds out of\u00a0\u00a0 the accounts and
\niv.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 CBN acts only in accordance with mandates issues by NNPC on these accounts.<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The CBN wishes to reiterate that in light of these verifiable facts presented above, there was no truth in the allegation insinuating that the CBN is maintaining secret foreign accounts.<\/p>\n
Ugo A. Okoroafor
\nDirector, Corporate Communications Department<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to publications in the media over allegations at the public hearing of the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pointblanknews-investigations"],"yoast_head":"\n