The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Olayemi Cardoso, has disclosed that approximately $2.4 billion out of the $7 billion foreign exchange backlog inherited upon assuming office consisted of transactions from non-existing entities, requests lacking import documents, and various infractions.
In an interview on Arise TV on Monday, Dr Cardoso addressed concerns regarding the recent volatility in the currency market and shed light on the efforts made by the CBN to address the backlog.
“Approximately, $7 billion was what we were told that the obligations were, and we looked at this and commenced the process of paying with the meagre resources as we had them. Settling some which believed were valid and due for payment. This wasn’t something we could just do in one shot. It had to take a bit of time,” said Dr Cardoso.
The CBN Governor explained that a forensic audit was initiated by contracting Deloitte management consultants to scrutinize the obligations and determine their validity. The audit revealed startling findings, exposing approximately $2.4 billion worth of transactions with various issues and infractions.
“We discovered that of the roughly $7 billion, about $2.4 billion had issues. We believed that they had no business being there. The infractions ranged from not having valid import documents to entities that did not exist, account parties who had asked for foreign exchange and received more than they asked for, and some that didn’t even ask for any and got. There were a whole load of infractions there,” Dr Cardoso disclosed.
When asked about the CBN’s response to these contentious transactions, Dr Cardoso emphasized, “We are not paying if you don’t qualify.”
