By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came under fresh legislative scrutiny on Tuesday as the House of Representatives moved to investigate its use of delegated legislative powers and alleged financial irregularities, even as Governor Olayemi Cardoso announced a major reset of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 23 per cent.

The House Committee on Delegated Legislation unanimously resolved to investigate regulations, rules, guidelines, circulars, directives and other subsidiary legislative instruments issued by the apex bank, including their legal basis and financial implications.

The probe followed a motion sponsored by the member representing Bosso/Paikoro Federal Constituency of Niger State, Hon. Baraje Yusuf Kure, who said delegated powers must be exercised within the limits of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and relevant laws enacted by the National Assembly.

The committee is also to examine whether fees, charges, penalties, expenditures and other financial obligations arising from CBN subsidiary legislation were properly authorised by law.

Deputy Chairman of the committee, Hon. Dominic Okafor, linked the investigation to concerns over the transparency of the CBN’s audited financial statements for 2024 and 2025, referring to allegations contained in the work of the President’s special investigator, Jim Obazee.

Okafor said unresolved questions over the apex bank’s financial reporting could have implications for confidence in government fiscal data, monetary policy, the banking system, foreign investment and Nigeria’s international reputation.

Committee Chairman, Hon. Richard Olufemi Bamisile, consequently directed the CBN to submit its summary consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2025, together with relevant Financial Reporting Council documents and approvals.

The committee also directed KPMG, the CBN’s auditor, to submit copies of the audited accounts for the two years, while Obazee was asked to provide all evidence and documents supporting the allegations.

All requested documents are to reach the committee by October 6, 2026.

The committee is expected to invite CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso and other officials of the apex bank, as well as representatives of the Financial Reporting Council, KPMG, E&Y, ICAN, ANAN and economist Bismarck Rewane.

The legislative action came on the same day Cardoso defended the performance of his three-year administration at the CBN, saying the bank had successfully returned to its core mandate of maintaining monetary and financial stability.

Speaking in Abuja after the 307th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Cardoso said the current management inherited a financial system characterised by declining confidence, currency depreciation, high inflation and a dysfunctional foreign exchange market.

He cited the unification of the foreign exchange market, reduction of excessive Ways and Means financing, rebuilding of external reserves and banking-sector recapitalisation among the major reforms undertaken since 2023.

“At that time, confidence had been lost in the bank and in the country,” Cardoso said, adding that the CBN’s task had been to restore stability and rebuild confidence in the naira and the wider economy.

Against that backdrop, the MPC announced a 350-basis-point reduction in the MPR, from 26.5 per cent to 23 per cent.

The committee also recalibrated the standing facilities corridor to +50/-300 basis points around the MPR, while retaining the Cash Reserve Requirement at 45 per cent for deposit money banks, 16 per cent for merchant banks and 75 per cent for non-Treasury Single Account public-sector deposits.

Cardoso, however, stressed that the rate adjustment should not be interpreted as a shift away from a restrictive monetary policy stance.

“We will stay on the course, which has been a restrictive one, for as long as we have to,” he said, describing the decision as an operational “reset and recalibration” designed to improve monetary policy transmission.

The governor said the gap between the MPR and prevailing interbank rates had weakened the effectiveness of the benchmark, while the adoption of a transaction-based overnight market benchmark had improved transparency in money-market operations.

He said improved economic fundamentals had created room for the adjustment, pointing to moderating inflation, stronger foreign-exchange reserves and improved external-sector conditions.

Nigeria’s gross external reserves stood at $55.25 billion as of September 18, 2026, while the balance-of-payments surplus rose to $3.51 billion in the second quarter from $2.38 billion in the first quarter.

The current-account surplus also increased to $7.54 billion from $4.49 billion.

Inflation continued to moderate, with headline inflation falling marginally to 15.39 per cent in August from 15.43 per cent in July. Food inflation declined to 19.57 per cent, while core inflation fell to 13.29 per cent.

The economy also recorded stronger growth in the second quarter, with real GDP expanding by 4.43 per cent, compared with 3.89 per cent in the first quarter.

Despite the improving indicators, the MPC identified geopolitical tensions and election-related spending as potential sources of renewed inflationary pressure.

Cardoso said the CBN had developed scenarios for managing liquidity during the approaching election cycle and would monitor currency in circulation, monetary aggregates, banking-system liquidity and foreign-exchange demand.

“We are ready,” he said, adding that the apex bank would deploy appropriate instruments to mop up excess liquidity when necessary.

The governor also said increased diaspora remittances had strengthened Nigeria’s external position, with monthly inflows rising from about $200 million when the reforms began to almost $1 billion by July.

He said the CBN’s broader reforms, including stronger oversight of international money-transfer operators and expanded access to Bank Verification Numbers for Nigerians abroad, had contributed to the improvement.

Cardoso further pointed to a newly signed fiscal-monetary coordination agreement between the CBN and the Federal Ministry of Finance as a mechanism for institutionalising coordination as Nigeria moves towards an inflation-targeting framework.

While the CBN presented the rate reset and improving macroeconomic indicators as evidence of progress in monetary policy management, the House investigation is set to subject the bank’s regulatory instruments and financial disclosures to legislative scrutiny.

The committee said it would, after reviewing the documents and hearing from relevant stakeholders, adopt its findings and recommendations and, where necessary, seek further directives from the House.

The MPC’s next meeting is scheduled for November 23 and 24, 2026.