The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it did not force its 1,000 staff to leave the system but they voluntarily retired from the service of the apex bank.
CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the matter at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja yesterday.
The House had on December 3, 2024 resolved to investigate the planned mass retirement at the apex bank to ascertain the criteria, process, and legality of the exercise and examine the N50 billion pay-off scheme to ensure transparency, accountability and proper utilisation of funds.
The House which also urged the CBN to suspend further implementation of the planned retirement and associated payoff scheme of N50 billion pending its investigation, set an ad-hoc committee chaired by the Chief Whip, Hon. Usman Bello Kumo (APC, Gombe) to conduct the probe.
Speaking at the resumed investigative hearing, Cardoso who was represented by the CBN’s deputy director, corporate services, Bala Bello, said the early exit programme and restructuring as well as reorganisation were to optimise the bank for enhanced efficiency.
He said the initiatives were basically ways and means through which the performance of an organisation is optimised by ensuring that round pegs are put in right holes, adding that the manpower requirement of the bank was actually met.
“The man loading which is the key responsibilities, key performance indicators of the bank, vis-a-vis the number of people driving the performance of that bank, is at a level where it’s optimum, balancing the human resource requirement, the capital requirement, the skill requirement, as well as the IT requirement of the bank.
“You are very much aware, chairman, that the entire world is going through a process of digitising its operations, and then once that is done, a lot of opportunities are created, just like a lot of redundancies are also equally created.
“And you have had instances in which in the past, the request for staff to actually exit the bank voluntarily actually emanated on the part of the staff. And I believe the Central Bank is not necessarily the first organisation to have done that.
“I’m very happy to mention, Mr chairman and members of the committee, that the early exit programme of the Central Bank is 100 percent voluntary. It’s not mandatory. Nobody has been asked to leave, and nobody has been forced to leave. It’s a completely voluntary programme that has been put in place.
“I believe several organisations across the world, and even within this country, both in terms of the private sector and the public sector, are undertaking similar exercises. So nobody has been asked to leave. But people who are based on popular demand, I have to be humble, with a lot of humility, to tell you that this same program that is taking place is not at the instance of the bank itself.
“Of course, we have our own challenges, and we know where we want to take the bank to. That’s Cardoso and his team, myself included. But this popular request actually came from the staff. In the past, you have had instances in which cases of stagnation and lack of career progression appear.
“It gets to the level where you have, for example, 30 departments in the Central Bank. You cannot have 60 directors, manning 30 departments. It’s not going to work. So, once those vacancies are filled, it gets to a level where some people, even though they are very qualified, they are very able, and they are very willing, but the vacancies are not there. And then they got to a level where they are stagnated for a period of time.
“There are several instances in which similar exercise took place in the Central Bank, which has happened several times. This is not the first time. It’s not the second time. It’s not the third time. It’s several times. You’ve had instances in which people at the top request that, look, it’s going to take me X number of years to actually aspire to become a director in an organization. But right now, there’s no vacancy. And the person sitting next to me probably has eight years to go. Meanwhile, I have seven.
So there’s no career growth.”
Earlier, the committee’s chairman, Hon. Kumo assured that the panel will be fair to all the parties involved in the investigation, adding that its responsibility is to submit the report to the House.
“Let me start by saying that the House of Representatives, the 10th National Assembly, understands that CBN is implementing the Restructuring, Reorganising and the Early Exit Program. I don’t know whether the CBN Governor can explain or brief this committee the objectives of the Restructuring, Reorganizing and the Early Exit Program to this committee.
“And two, can you explain the Early Exit Program and what you intend to achieve with it? When it starts, when it will end, and what is the connection? Between the Reorganization, Restructuring and the Early Exit Programme,” he said.