USPF put N1.8bn in Aso Savings in 2013. The Auditor-General says N3.21bn is unpaid; Aso's June 2025 balance sheet shows liabilities N51.16bn above assets

In June 2013 the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), the federal fund set up under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, put N1,800,000,000.00 of public money into Aso Savings and Loan Plc, a primary mortgage bank, at 7 per cent a year. It has not come back. The Auditor-General for the Federation's 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance, Volume II, says on page 756: "As at the date of this periodic check in May, 2025 (10 years after), Aso Savings and Loan Plc has not been able to pay back the principal investment and the accrued interest totaling N3,209,353,597.55 (Three billion, two hundred and nine million, three hundred and fifty three thousand, five hundred and ninety seven naira, fifty five kobo)".

Aso's own figures show the size of the problem. A statement headed "Q2 Financial Statement as at 30 June 2025", filed with Nigerian Exchange and signed by the company's managing director and chief financial officer, puts total assets at N27,084,869,396 and total liabilities at N78,242,407,832. It prints net assets and shareholders' funds as (51,157,538,435): on its own account, the company owed N51,157,538,435 more than everything it held. Its liabilities were 2.89 times its assets.

Set side by side, the N3,209,353,597.55 the auditors say Aso owes the fund equals 11.85 per cent of all of Aso's assets on 30 June 2025. The statement does not name depositors, so the USPF balance cannot be picked out in it. Its deposits note lists fixed deposits of N4,605,569,589.13, current accounts of N18,514,718,207.41 and savings of N901,036,676.05, which add to the N24,021,324,472.59 it prints, and its other liabilities include N6,127,593,910.51 of "Matured Deposit".

Six months after that balance date, the Central Bank of Nigeria withdrew Aso's licence. Voice of Nigeria, the state broadcaster, reported on 16 December 2025 a statement by the CBN's acting director of corporate communications, Hakama Sidi Ali, that it had revoked the licences of Aso Savings and Loans Plc and Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc under Section 12 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020, citing among other grounds that they "had insufficient assets to cover their liabilities". The next day Voice of Nigeria reported the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, appointed liquidator, as dating the revocation 15 December 2025 and saying depositors would be paid insured deposits "up to the maximum amount of N2,000,000 (Two Million Naira) per depositor", with larger balances "settled as liquidation dividends upon the realisation of the assets". We could not open the CBN's own file, which its website would not serve to us; this part of the account rests on those reports.

The audit heading names a second failure: "NON-PERFORMING INVESTMENT/NON-ADHERENCE TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE TO CLOSE ALL ACCOUNTS WITH COMMERCIAL BANKS (=N3,209,353,597.55)". The auditors record that "In 2015, the Federal Government directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to close all accounts maintained with commercial banks and transfer balances into the Treasury Single Account (TSA)." The money was still at Aso when they checked in May 2025.

The fund's management answered in three points, printed on the same page. It said "The decision to invest with Aso Savings and Loan Plc in 2013 was that of the Management of the Secretariat at that time." It said that following the 2015 directive "correspondence was sent to Aso Savings and Loan Plc. to transfer the principal amounts and accrued interests belonging to the USPF latest by Friday, September 11, 2025", and that Aso had replied on how it proposed to remit. It added that the investment "is one of the issues that will be deliberated by the Board of the USPF upon inauguration", and that a representative of the Federal Ministry of Finance sits on that board. The letters, filed as appendices 1 and 2, are not reproduced in the volume. The response does not say when the letter was sent, and 11 September 2025 was a Thursday, not a Friday. The revocation date reported for the NDIC, 15 December 2025, came 95 days after that deadline.

The auditors called the reply "unsatisfactory" and said "the findings remain valid until the recommendations are implemented." On page 757 they asked the Secretary of the fund to account to the Public Accounts Committees for N3,209,353,597.55, "being investment of government fund in Aso Savings and Loan Plc in 2013 even when the company had shown signs of going concern challenges", to explain "why the investment in the Bank was not terminated in 2015 when the Federal Government & the Central Bank of Nigeria directives were issued", and to "Recover and remit to the Treasury, the sum of N3,209,353,597.55."

One part of the audit's reasoning is not borne out by the one set of Aso's audited accounts we read. Page 756 says Aso's audited statements "showed that the Bank has been having going concern challenges since 2013 prior to initial investment by USPF." Aso's audited accounts for 2013, filed with the exchange and approved by its board on 30 October 2014, say otherwise on page 45: management "is not aware of any material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt upon the Bank's ability to continue as a going concern", and the joint auditors' opinion on page 26 says the statements "present fairly, in all material respects" the bank's position. Those accounts did show strain: accumulated losses of N3,290,560,000 at the end of 2012 and N2,607,030,000 at the end of 2013, a loss of N117,143,000 in the nine months to 31 December 2012, and total equity of N2,091,839,000 at the end of 2012, rising to N5,330,641,000 in 2013 as share capital went from N4,339,574,000 to N7,370,867,000. The audit does not say which year's statements it relied on.

The record is also fair to the fund's present management on one point: the auditors do not dispute its statement that the 2013 decision was taken by an earlier management, and nothing on the page names the officials who took it. The audit does not show how the N3,209,353,597.55 was calculated. The part above the principal, N1,409,353,597.55, equals about 11.2 years of simple interest at 7 per cent on N1,800,000,000.00, which is N126,000,000 a year; June 2013 to May 2025 is just under 12 years.

The documents establish what the Auditor-General recorded about the fund's placement with Aso, what the fund said in reply, and what Aso reported about its own assets and liabilities at 30 June 2025. They do not establish that anyone committed a crime, and no court has made any finding. They do not show who in the 2013 secretariat approved the placement, on what terms beyond the 7 per cent rate, whether any of the N3,209,353,597.55 has been paid since May 2025, whether the fund has filed a claim with the liquidator, or how much it can expect to recover. The June 2025 statement is the company's own unaudited account; its cover says second quarter, while the exchange lists it as a third-quarter statement filed in November 2025.

We invite a response from the Secretary of the Universal Service Provision Fund, from the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, and from the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation as liquidator of Aso Savings and Loans Plc, in particular on who approved the 2013 placement, whether the fund has lodged a claim in the liquidation, how much of the N3,209,353,597.55 it expects to recover, and what the board decided once inaugurated. Any response will be published in full.

What this rests on

AuGF 2024 Annual Report on Non-compliance Vol. II, Universal Service Provision Fund, Abuja, report pp.755-757 (PDF pp.320-322), period 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2024, Issue 1. Principal 1,800,000,000.00 (June 2013, 7% p.a.); principal plus accrued interest 3,209,353,597.55 as at May 2025; accrued interest = 3,209,353,597.55 - 1,800,000,000.00 = 1,409,353,597.55; simple interest at 7% on 1.8bn = 126,000,000 a year; 1,409,353,597.55 / 126,000,000 = 11.19 years (our arithmetic; the report shows none). Aso Savings and Loans Plc, 'Q2 Financial Statement as at 30 June 2025' (NGX file 45411, listed as Q3 2025, November 2025), p.2: assets -95,201,486 + 9,401,359,183 + 9,578,170,792 + 6,163,042,063 + 2,037,498,844 = 27,084,869,396 (matches); liabilities 24,021,324,473 + 6,870,561,397 + 24,816,804,955 + 4,909,994,232 + 1,405,789,235 + 16,217,933,540 = 78,242,407,832 (matches); 27,084,869,396 - 78,242,407,832 = -51,157,538,436, printed (51,157,538,435), N1 rounding; equity 7,370,866,901 + 472,936,507 + 39,659,990,968 + 246,491,570 - 98,928,814,580 + 20,990,198 = -51,157,538,436. Ratio 78,242,407,832 / 27,084,869,396 = 2.89. Share 3,209,353,597.55 / 27,084,869,396 = 11.85%. Deposits note 7 (p.6): 4,605,569,589.13 + 18,514,718,207.41 + 901,036,676.05 = 24,021,324,472.59 (matches). Matured Deposit 6,127,593,910.51 (note 8, p.7). Days 11 Sep 2025 to 15 Dec 2025: 19 (rest of Sep) + 31 (Oct) + 30 (Nov) + 15 (Dec) = 95. 11 September 2025 weekday: Thursday. Aso audited accounts FY2013 (NGX): statement of financial position p.29 (N'000): total equity 5,330,641 (2013) and 2,091,839 (2012); accumulated losses (2,607,030) and (3,290,560); share capital 7,370,867 and 4,339,574; approved 30 October 2014; going-concern note p.45; auditors' opinion p.26; loss for the nine months to 31 Dec 2012 (117,143), p.86. CBN revocation and NDIC terms: Voice of Nigeria reports of 16 and 17 December 2025 (grade B, attributed).

What this does not establish

The documents do not establish any crime or misconduct; no court has ruled. They do not show who in the 2013 USPF secretariat approved the placement or on what terms beyond the 7% rate, how the N3,209,353,597.55 was computed, whether any of it has been repaid since May 2025, whether USPF has lodged a claim with the NDIC as liquidator, or what it will recover. USPF's letter to Aso and Aso's reply (appendices 1 and 2) are not reproduced in the published volume. The Aso statement for 30 June 2025 is unaudited and does not name depositors, so the USPF balance cannot be traced in it. The CBN revocation and NDIC payout terms rest on Voice of Nigeria's reports; the CBN's own file could not be retrieved. The audit's statement that Aso's audited accounts showed going-concern challenges since 2013 is not supported by the 2013 accounts we read; it may rest on other years' statements, which the audit does not cite. The cover photograph shows telecommunications masts in south-west Nigeria; we have not established that the fund paid for them.