A comprehensive report submitted by Jim Obazee, a special investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, has provided detailed evidence of the alleged mismanagement of approximately N1.622 trillion in COVID-19 intervention funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under former Governor Godwin Emefiele.

A report earlier claimed that Emefiele, who is currently facing six counts of alleged N1.6 billion procurement fraud in an Abuja Federal High Court, undertook the project of redesigning the country’s currency notes without obtaining approval from the CBN Board.

In addition to the mishandling of COVID-19 intervention funds, the findings of the Special Investigator reveal how the former CBN governor manipulated the directives of former President Goodluck Jonathan regarding the establishment of the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) Stabilization Strategy Limited.

According to the report by SaharaReporters, former President Jonathan had sanctioned the creation of the entity as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) limited by Guarantee.

However, Emefiele disregarded this directive and instead incorporated the entity as a company limited by shares, allowing it to issue debentures despite its status as a newly established entity.

Hence, the former CBN governor set the foundation for the issuance of debentures worth more than N64 billion by the company.

This issuance was approved by the Committee of Governors of CBN during their meeting on January 21, 2015, despite violating Section 31 of the CBN Act, 2007.

As per the findings of the Special Investigator report, a staggering amount of N952 billion was diverted from the CBN’s vaults under this pretence by the end of the financial year 2021.

The report further reveals that out of this diverted amount, N1.325 billion was redirected to four companies even before the firm was officially incorporated.