Reps Mad at Cardoso over Unremitted Trillions

Tempers flared in the House of Representatives, Wednesday as members expressed anger over the persistent snubbing of summons by  the Governor of the Central Bank, Olayemi Cardoso

The confusion came on the heels of a motion seeking to invite the CBN Governor to explain the non-remittance of identified government revenues and present a concrete plan for the immediate payment of all outstanding amounts into designated Federal Government accounts.

The resolution was reached following a motion alleging non-remittance of over ₦5 trillion operating surplus and ₦11 trillion government revenue by the CBN.

The motion was raised by the Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Bamidele Salam, who informed the house that the CBN governor had ignored several invitations from the committee.

Salam explained that the observation was made from the 2022 financial year report of the Auditor General of the Federation.

The Osun lawmaker described the non-remittance of the staggering sums by the CBN Governor as unacceptable especially at a time the nation is grappling with dwindling revenues, rising insecurity, and acute infrastructure deficit.

The Reps roared their objection when the House Speaker, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas, called for the establishment of an ad hoc committee to take over the investigation instead of the initial prayers for the CBN governor to appear before the entire House.

This caused a stir among members as they wondered why an adhoc committee should be set up, instead of enforcing the powers of the public accounts committee, which is the creation of the constitutional.

Visibly upset by the rowdy situation,  the Speaker, Rt. Hon Tajudeen Abbas, called out some lawmakers and threatened to sanction any member engaged in any disorderly behaviour.

After several attempts to calm dissenting voices, the Speaker eventually succumbed to the majority decision to summon the CBN governor to appear before the Public Accounts Committee.