By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the deadline for the submission of the 2019 audited financial statements of Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) under its regulation to July 31, 2020.
The Director, OFIs Supervision Department, CBN, Ms Nkiru Asiegbu, disclosed this in a letter addressed to the OFIs, some of which include Finance Houses, microfinance banks, Bureau De Change.
The 2019 audited financial statements should have reached the CBN on or before April 30, 2020, but due to observation of the lockdown in most cities in the country as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the apex bank noted that it had restricted the possibility of this.
Part of the circular read, “Pursuant to the provisions of Section 27 (1) (a) of BOFIA, all banks and OFIs are required to forward the audited financial statements of each financial year to the CBN for approval before the end of the fourth month following the year to which they relate.
“Accordingly, the 2019 audited financial statements should have reached the CBN on or before April 2020.
“However, we have observed that the lockdown of most cities in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic has restricted the engagement of external auditors and the daily operations of all OFIs across the country.
“Therefore, the deadline for submission has been extended by three months.
“For the avoidance of doubt, all other financial institutions are required to submit the 2019 audited financial statements on or before July 31, 2020.”
The CBN said it would monitor compliance with the extended date, and defaulters would be sanctioned accordingly.
In another CBN related matter, the Governor of the apex bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele revealed that out of the N100 billion credit intervention meant for the healthcare industry, it has disbursed N10.5billion to cushion the impact of the coronavirus on the sector.
This was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) 273rd meeting held virtually in Abuja.
Mr Emefiele said, “The committee recognised that under the N100 billion healthcare sector intervention fund, the bank has approved and disbursed N10.15bn for some projects for the establishment of advanced diagnostic and health centres and the expansion of some pharmaceutical plants for essential drugs and intravenous fluids.”
Dipo Olowookere