N206,939,439.58 of Osun State’s money sits in Heritage Bank, a liquidated institution. The Central Bank of Nigeria revoked the bank’s licence on 3 June 2024, and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation was appointed its liquidator. The Auditor-General, Kolapo Idris, records in his Auditor-General’s Report for 2025 that the sum was reported in the previous year as a closing balance, and he asks for the status of the money. The statements carry the balance of the dead bank as though it were cash in hand.
“Can never be correct.” That is the Auditor-General’s verdict on the cash position disclosed in the audited accounts of the Osun State Government for 2025, and a SecretsReporters review of his Auditor-General’s Report for 2025 shows the verdict delivered inside a report that also repeats his unqualified opinion on the 2025 financial statements, an opinion stating that the statements show a true and fair view of the state’s finances as at 31 December 2025. The opinion closes with its own hedge, that the view is given based on available documents. The accounts, his introduction records, were certified only after the observations and comments in his report had been effected.
On cash and bank balances, the Auditor-General states that the closing balances of ministries, departments and agencies extracted into the notes to the accounts are entirely different from the balances his own year end cash survey independently gathered. Many balances carried in the accounts do not appear in the hard copies the Accountant-General’s office submitted to audit. His conclusion is that the Office of the Accountant-General does not have grip of accounts being operated by ministries, departments and agencies, and that the differences mean the disclosed cash position can never be correct.
The gap is measurable at the centre. Headquarters balances were computed in the accounts at N18,542,057,428.96 against bank certified balances of N24,056,470,917.62, a difference of N5,514,413,488.66 that the audit could not reconcile. Under the accrual basis of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards, which the statements claim to follow, cash and bank balances must be stated faithfully and supported by bank evidence.
Operational cash books for all accounts as at 31 December 2025 were not made available to the Auditor-General. The audit was conducted under the Financial Regulations of Osun State, whose section 02006 the Auditor-General cites as the basis on which he obtained information and explanations for the audit.
From the bank mandates produced to audit, some Access Bank accounts still carry retired officers as signatories, and one carries a former commissioner as confirming officer. The Auditor-General calls the arrangement “absurd” and a route to wastage of public funds sitting in accounts gone dormant. The Financial Regulations place custody of public money with serving, accountable officers.
Ministry, department and agency cash balances totalling N2,461,228,654.96 were not reverted to the treasury despite a treasury circular requiring it, a failure the Auditor-General notes is a recurring scenario, and he demands to know why the erring officers were not sanctioned. Management answered that the state operates a modulated treasury single account and that the balances form part of sub accounts. Around the unreverted balances sits more stranded cash: N112,634,987.88 in dormant accounts, N65,245,891 in an inactive account and N11,309,981.67 in restricted accounts.
Foreign currency balances of EUR 5,499.94 and USD 120,705.26 were also disclosed without bank certificates and without a stated exchange rate.
Value added tax for September 2025 was reported in the statements at N10,777,760,040.47 when the Federation Account figure was N9,814,677,197.98. The difference, N963,082,842.49, is described by the Auditor-General in his cash flow observations as unaccounted for, with an explanation demanded. Management answered that the sum was additional revenue that came in during September 2025.
The statements these queries attach to report cash and bank balances of N38,151,344,724.49 at 31 December 2025, down from N60,205,607,471.60 a year earlier.
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