Exclusive: ₦386 Billion Meant To Feed Nigeria, A Rotting Bullion Van And 77 Boxes Of Cash Nobody Checked Rocks Yemi Cardoso’s Tenure As CBN Governor

Secrets Reporters

SecretsReporters had earlier exposed ₦1.37 trillion in unrecovered state loans and unaccounted distressed-bank facilities sitting inside the Central Bank of Nigeria under Governor Olayemi Cardoso. Today, this newspaper turns to money that was supposed to feed the nation and to a set of basic operational failures that show the rot inside the CBN runs from the boardroom all the way down to the branch floor.

The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme is the CBN’s flagship agricultural intervention, designed to support farmers and secure Nigeria’s food supply at a time when food inflation has battered ordinary households across the country. A Federal Government audit found the programme carried an outstanding balance of ₦386,168,028,870.49 as at 31st December 2023, of which ₦322,106,101,921.74 was due for payment by the end of 2024 after restructuring.

Auditors found no evidence of how many beneficiaries the programme actually reached, no impact assessment, and no proof the Bank had made any real effort at recovery, a direct breach of Paragraph 3.0 of the CBN’s own Anchor Borrowers’ Guidelines. The consequence, in the auditors’ own words, is both “diversion of public funds to private purposes” and an “inability to attain food security in the Nation.”

The Bank’s later claim of recovery down to ₦262,859,473,249.81 still leaves hundreds of billions in unresolved exposure on a scheme meant to put food on Nigerian tables, with blame spread across banditry, poor farming practices, climate change, and beneficiaries who allegedly treated the loan as a grant rather than a debt to be repaid.

Beyond the trillion-Naira figures, the audit uncovered the kind of basic operational failures that erode confidence in an institution that is supposed to run like clockwork. At the CBN’s Abia State Branch, auditors found 77 boxes of currency notes marked “Awaiting Examination,” every single one more than three months overdue for processing, another direct breach of Paragraph 112(i) of the Financial Regulations 2009.

The Bank’s defence, that this reflects normal first-in-first-out processing and that such notes are “not subject to expenditure,” does not explain why 77 boxes were allowed to sit past the mandatory retention timeline in the first place, unexamined, for months on end, noted auditors.

At the Lagos Branch which is one of the CBN’s most strategically important locations, physical verification by auditors found unserviceable vehicles simply abandoned on the premises, directly undermining the branch’s operations, in breach of Paragraphs 2609, 2001 and 2614 of the Financial Regulations 2009.

And at the Abeokuta Branch, of eleven vehicles inspected, the branch’s sole Mercedes Benz Bullion Lorry, its only vehicle capable of moving cash, purchased as recently as January 2018 was found completely unserviceable, forcing the branch to depend on other locations for the most basic function a currency-handling branch exists to perform. On this finding, when auditors sought an explanation, the official record states the Bank’s response in exactly two words: “No response.”