After months of waiting, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the country’s apex monetary regulatory body, eventually released its financial statements for public scrutiny, with mixed reactions trailing the announcement.
And despite the economic challenges the nation faced, the apex bank recorded a net income or profit after tax of N103.85 billion in 2022 with 47.8 percent of this profit, or N49.69 billion, generated by its subsidiaries and other institutions where it has a stake. In 2021, its subsidiaries generated N64.84 billion profit, representing 86.3 percent of the overall profit realised by the CBN.
These subsidiaries were set up and investments channelled into strategic institutions in the country in order to enhance the functioning of the Nigerian economy.
The CBN subsidiaries and other firms where it has interest include the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Plc (NIRSAL), NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), and Bank of Industry (BOI).
Others are FMDQ OTC, ACGSF, Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry Stabilization Strategy Limited (NESI), and Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM).
In terms of stake, the CBN controls 40 percent stake in NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, 3.6 percent stake in NIBSS, 42.4 percent in AFC, 50 percent in NEXIM, 14 percent in BOA, 5.2 percent in BOI, 15.4 percent in FMDQ OTC, and 40 percent in ACGSF.
The CBN also controls 99.99 percent in NESI, 100 percent in NIRSAL, and 89.52 percent in NSPM.
Based on the figures gleaned from the CBN financials, NSPM generated N66.81 billion revenue in 2022, which was higher than N57.34 billion made in 2021 by 16.5 percent. Profit after tax for NSPM amounted to N8.46 billion, marginally above N8.41 billion PAT as of 2021.
According to the CBN, “NSPM is a company whose main business activity is the printing and minting of Nigerian banknotes and coins, respectively. It also prints security documents and products for other businesses. The investment in NSPM is carried at cost less impairment in the separate financial statements.”
The CBN’s stake in the firm translated to N7.57 billion profit in 2022 and N7.52 billion profit in 2021.
The CBN received N38.97 billion from the AFC as its share of the profit the organisation made in 2022 as against N47.56 billion in 2021. The AFC accounted for 78.4 percent of the CBN’s subsidiaries’ profit in 2022 and 73.4 percent of their combined profit in 2021.
“AFC is a private sector-led pan-African multilateral development finance institution, with a capital base of US$1.2 billion, established to be a catalyst for private sector infrastructure investment across Africa.
“AFC not only provides access to finance, deal structuring and sector technical expertise, but also advisory services, project development capacity, and funding to bridge the infrastructure investment and access deficits, in the core infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport and telecommunications, all critical pillars for economic growth across Africa,” the CBN stated.
BOI is the third most profitable subsidiary of CBN, as it contributed N2.71 billion profit in 2022, but that was lower by 2.1 percent than the N2.77 billion it contributed to the CBN profit pool in 2021. BOI has the mandate to provide development finances to Nigerian organisations.
NESI saw the most improvement in top and bottom lines in 2022, as its profit rose over 2000 percent to N2.43 billion from N99 million in the previous year. This enabled the CBN to have N2.43 billion as its share of the profit last year compared to N98.99 million it got in 2021.
NESI’s primary activities “are to promote long-term sustainability and efficiency of the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry through the initiation and encouragement of programmes and the creation of mechanisms and processes fundamental to the growth and bankability of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry”.
CBN earned N2.38 billion from NEXIM in 2022 which was 11 percent higher than N2.14 billion earned in 2021 from the same institution.
FMDQ OTC fetched the CBN N1.49 billion in 2022. However, in 2021, the CBN earned N1.52 billion from the same institution.
Other institutions and their CBN share of their profits include NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, N856.8 million; NIBSS, N556.81 million; Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF), N481.6 million; and BOA, N255.36.
On the other hand, the Bank of Agriculture recorded a loss of N255.36 million in 2022, an improvement over a loss of N570.78 million it recorded in 2021.
NIRSAL recorded a loss of N7.51 billion in 2022 compared to a profit of N2.19 billion in 2021.
