Ex-CBN staff fault Cardoso on voluntary disengagement claim

Former employees of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have faulted the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso’s claim that no staff was forcefully disengaged from the Bank while appearing before the Ad-Hoc Committee set-up by the House of Representatives to investigate the disengagement of staff of Bank with the Early Exit Program (EEP). Represented by Mr. […]

Former employees of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have faulted the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso’s claim that no staff was forcefully disengaged from the Bank while appearing before the Ad-Hoc Committee set-up by the House of Representatives to investigate the disengagement of staff of Bank with the Early Exit Program (EEP).

Represented by Mr. Mohammed Bala Bello, the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services of the Bank, Mr. Bala said the EEP was a voluntary program introduced by the Management at the instance of staff to enable willing members to exit the Bank with incentives offered by the Bank. He emphasized that the program was absolutely voluntary and no staff was forcefully disengaged from the Bank.

When probed further about the staff that were disengaged before they came up with the EEP, he confirmed that it’s true that some staff had earlier been disengaged but that “those were retired by the Management with their full benefits”.

The retired staff told Daily Trust that the Governor failed to tell Committee that where Mr. Cardoso and his team, derived the power to unilaterally and arbitrarily retire over 200 confirmed and pensionable staff of various grades including Executives before their legal due date and

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The retired staff argued that Section 14(4) CBN Act, protects both appointments and disengagement of Assistant Director and above by making it mandatory for the Board to approve.

“How does the Management (Governor & his 4 Deputies) explain disengaging staff including Executives in the name of Restructuring and Reorganization when there was neither such program in place nor the Board approval for it particularly with the disengagement of Executives,” they queried.

Daily Trust enquiry revealed that the Board members as captured on the CBN website indicates that they were already in place before the disengagements commenced on 15 March, 2024.

They argued that Mr Bala lied when he said that there was no Board or that they had not been inaugurated, clarifying that President Bola Tinubu forwarded names of the Board members to the Senate and they were confirmed on 29/02/2024, effectively bringing the Board into existence.