I think Nigeria needs to find a solution to the level of misinformation we have online these days. I have been inundated with many questions on if the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is bankrupt or going bankrupt. Please there is nothing like that; your Nigerian treasury bills, bonds, etc are safe, at least from the angle of the CBN.
The Total Assets of CBN (Group) stands at ~N57.99 trillion while Total Liabilities are ~N56.34 trillion, giving a decent Equity of ~N1.604 trillion, as at Dec 31 2022. By accounting standard (at least to Intermediate Level of ICAN), this is not a state of bankruptcy. That said, the rate of growth in the Liabilities was not prudent, and Nigeria has to cut that down.
Instead of bankruptcy, the bank actually recorded a profit of N65.63 billion in 2022; in 2021, it was N31.04 billion. Relatively, that is nothing, but that is not a sign towards bankruptcy.
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Understand that most people are very unhappy, including myself, not because of any sign of bankruptcy, the issue was borrowing $$billions from US banks, and securing/collateralizing the loans with the national foreign reserves or other asset classes, without informing the Nigerian people and the National Assembly.
That non-disclosure blew many models wide, since the funds you think are there have already been spent, via backdoor. I wrote that I was disappointed that Buhari allowed such to happen under his watch. But that observation was not on the financial position of the bank, rather, the lack of transparency in its management. CBN did what if any Nigerian bank had done and “covered it”, that bank would be in trouble with the apex bank.
Conclusion: The apex bank is “strong” but ought to be stronger.
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Why are you sounding like a freshly recruited CBN spokesman? Liabilities are going toe to toe with assets, is that a great position to be in, and how far is it from bankruptcy like this? This thing is far from being healthy, so those already shouting bankruptcy are not totally out of place, nothing gives confidence that the CBN is immune to bankruptcy.
How did the apex bank manage to use foreign reserve as collateral, and all the while it has been reporting our foreign reserve, did it ever notify us that half of the reported reserve isn’t really ours? This idea of using technicalities to make an absurd practice look like it’s tolerable is something we must desist from.
With all these misdemeanours and frauds, who and who are getting arrested and prosecuted, or we think only Emefiele committed this heist? After all the noise and acrobatics, the SSS ended up charging Emefiele for possessing a gun, something totally irrelevant and useless to what is at stake. Buhari should be getting charged by now, but because this place called Nigeria is not real, he will remain untouchable, while the yammering about how bad he was/is continues.
Well, the CBN is bankrupt, if they don’t like the statement – then they should return the loot.