The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has concluded its tedious restructuring processes with over 100 staff compulsorily retired across all 28 departments.
Contrary to earlier reports suggesting that the affected staff were sacked without benefits a top management staff at the Apex Bank told our correspondent exclusively that none of the about 120 staff across all 28 departments were sacked.
He said all the staff were compulsorily retired and they will get benefits as defined in the CBN condition of service.
The compulsory retirement of the staff followed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of the recommendations in the report of the Special Investigator on CBN dealing under the embattled Mr. Godwin Emefiele who is standing trial for multiple corruption allegations running into billions of naira.
“It’s part of the restructuring of the bank sequel to the conclusion and submission of the Special Investigators report approved for implementation by the President and over 100 staff were retired from the bank cutting across several cadres and 28 departments. They were not sacked or terminated as speculated in some quarters” he emphasized.
Recall President Bola Tinubu had appointed Mr. Jim Obazee, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC), on July 28, 2023 to investigate activities of the CBN during President Mohammadu Buhari’s tenure. The committee on April 5th submitted its final report to the president.
Sippet of the report alleged that Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the then CBN Governor, consented to the “unlawful removal” of about $6.23 million from the vault of the apex bank’s Abuja office.
The panel said the tenure also witnessed indiscriminate and “fraudulent” use of ways and means advances by the CBN amounting to over N22trn.
ed in the apex bank before Cardoso came on board.
The new CBN management led by the Governor, Dr. Olayemi Cardoso had begun deep reforms in early 2024. The reforms saw the transfers of some core staff from Abuja to other branches of the apex bank to drive the restructuring that would follow.
The restructuring also saw some staff retired, a significant number of them were alleged to have compromised their offices and are now facing criminal prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The top management staff who pleaded anonymity said some of the staff were retired because they were drug addicts and some were on rehabilitation therapy.
“This appears to be the end of the reforms and restructuring,” he said.
“All the drug addicts have been retired. No one has been terminated or dismissed. But many of them have cases to answer at EFCC and the EFCC will continue with its prosecution. Already, 26 staff have testified and some have returned money” he stated further,
Our correspondent reports that this isn’t the first time a new CBN management would undergo reforms and lay off staff. HE Prof. Charles Soludo also carried out similar exercises when he came on board.
The affected staff had also demanded benefits saying they weren’t against the management decision to restructure the bank to meet the new vision.
One of the affected staff who didn’t want his name mentioned told Economy Footprint that “if some staff have been found to have compromised their offices, those staff should be dealt with according to extant laws. We are not averse to restructuring. We are also not against the current team hiring people who should help them achieve their policies and long-term vision. But we should be paid our benefits if we haven’t committed a crime.”
