Emefiele: How to create a people-centred central bank

Along the line, Mr Eme-fiele has also vowed to build a people-centred central bank. A people-centred central bank necessarily starts with the staff. Insiders say on his first day on the job, Mr Emefiele did the unusual; he came down from his 11th floor office and went round the departments all the way down, shaking […]

Along the line, Mr Eme-fiele has also vowed to build a people-centred central bank. A people-centred central bank necessarily starts with the staff. Insiders say on his first day on the job, Mr Emefiele did the unusual; he came down from his 11th floor office and went round the departments all the way down, shaking hands. He told members of staff who were expecting some form of address inside departmental conference rooms that it was just a handshake session, as he was going to speak to them at 4.00pm that evening.
When he eventually did so, the governor’s address was measured and business like, and he spoke for less than 20 minutes. Mr Emefiele told the CBN staff that he was quite aware of the question of staff welfare and was quite ready to do what was necessary to motivate them. He said the Bank needed to pay the right salaries to ensure that members of staff retained interest in their jobs. Mr Emefiele also said he was conscious of the fact that promotions had been stalled on account of the transition period. With regards to the payment of productivity allowances (bonus) for the year 2013, the new Governor assured staff that it was one of his priorities. On the question of grade alignment for staff placed on Deputy Manager and Principal Manager, the new helmsman also gave his word that he would look into it. It would be recalled that in the past, CBN staff moved straight from Assistant Manager to Manager and Senior Manager to Assistant Director, but in 2012 the positions of Deputy Manager and Principal Manager were introduced and this didn’t go down well with the staff concerned as they regard it as punitive. Moving forward now, members of staff expect the new authorities to at least substantially differentiate between the salaries of those on the new grades and those immediately below. Having come from Zenith Bank, one of the most well paid institutions in that sector, the new governor is witness to the fact that in comparison and as a regulator, the CBN has to attain a reasonable level of remuneration in order to continue to attract and retain qualitative manpower in an increasingly competitive environment. Human resources management experts reckon that a well trained and remunerated workforce stands the best chance of attaining organisational goals. Once Emefiele fixes these crucial staff issues, he can expect maximum cooperation and productivity from staff.
In return for enhanced welfare, Mr Emefiele should justifiably look ahead to a result-oriented labour force. The new Governor said once the staff welfare issues were fixed, he wouldn’t accept any failure, on the part of staff, to achieve results. He told staff that whether they would go through the wall, around, under or above the wall, it was entirely their own choice; but he would insist on having the desired results.
If Emefiele succeeds in motivating the CBN staff to be more productive, he could then confidently unleash the power of the institution and make it work for the generality of the citizens.
Apart from its basic mandate, the CBN’s interventions in some sectors of the economy remain crucial. Nigerian agricultural sector, despite the many years of advertised initiatives, has largely remained backward. The bank needs not only to sustain its intervention in the sector but also find a practical way of ensuring that funds for the sector get to genuine farmers who could put them to desired use. Agriculture remains an important avenue for reducing unemployment and producing the much needed raw materials for industries. If we can achieve self sufficiency in the production of fish, rice, sugar and wheat alone, we will have significantly cut down on our annual food import bill of N1.3 trillion.
The power sector has remained intractable; despite the billions of dollars spent on it, supply has been erratic. Now is not the time to walk away from this sector, therefore, in the wake of the unfolding reforms, the bank should remain engaged until the goal of regular supply is achieved.
Emefiele’s passion for helping to cut down on unemployment is also notable. The rate of unemployment has nearly doubled from 13.9% in 2000 to 23.9% in 2012. Unemployment is one phenomenon that is increasingly creating a revolutionary environment in this country. This is why the new resolve to fund medium and small scale enterprises is a welcome development as countries like Australia, Japan, South Korea, etc, have almost always relied on these sorts of enterprises to curb unemployment.
More importantly, Mr Emefiele must ensure that he preserves the gains of the banking sector reforms of his predecessors. For too long, account holders have been short changed by banks using flimsy grounds. For too long, fraudulent and fake entrepreneurs have colluded with bank officials to borrow money they never paid back. Mr Emefiele has to be wary of sinking additional funds into the oil and gas sector because in the past this has brought some banks to their knees.
However, investing in health is worthwhile considering that nowadays Nigerians are spending heavily on good health. Where we have functional, well equipped and staffed hospitals, Nigerians will refrain from a horrendous medical tourism that eats into our foreign exchange. This then will help Emefiele to realise his goal of boosting our foreign reserves.
Emefiele’s gesture of scrapping charges on bank deposits is a good step, but in the days ahead he must note that all his good works could be ruined by governments’ extravagance, misuse of savings and wasteful borrowings.