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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
No fewer than 19 directors at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are set to be retired in the coming days, huhuonline.com reports.
The development follows the reported termination of seven directors appointments last Friday.
While two of the directors whose appointments were terminated have accepted their fate, the other five are said to be planning to take legal action against the apex bank over what they consider as unlawful termination of their appointments.
The two directors who accepted their termination quietly are also reported to be facing corruption cases at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) due to the report of the special investigator, Jim Obaze’s, which indicted them.
The termination letters sent to the seven directors cited “reorganization and human capital restructuring” as the reason for their dismissal, in line with the bank’s new strategic direction.
The letters stated that their services would no longer be required with effect from Friday, 15th March, 2024, and they were instructed to hand over all bank properties in their possession to their department’s administrator immediately.
The news of the planned sack has been widespread since last Thursday. The decision, which is still being treated with confidentiality from the media, has raised great concern among staff of the CBN, who are afraid that it could be a prelude to more layoffs by the current management of the bank.
Prior to this latest development, CBN had relocated about 150 staff of the Banking Supervision Department (BSD), which is one of the 29 departments of the bank to Lagos. The BSD is under the Financial System Stability Directorate of the CBN.
The relocation had generated heated controversy across the country, with many alleging that it was an attempt to dislodge staff who are northerners from the institution.
But the CBN rebuffed the insinuations, insisting that it was part of a proper reorganisation of the bank, to ensure that the regular onsite examination of the 24 banks in the country were diligently carried out, since most of the national and regional banks are headquartered in Lagos. It also adduced as part of the reason for the relocation, the desire to de-congest the corporate headquarters of the bank.
