Cardoso: Anxiety In CBN As Apex Bank Allegedly Sacks Eight Directors Who Worked With Emefiele

By Abiola Olawale

Not less than eight directors at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who worked closely with the former governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, have reportedly been retired, triggering fears and apprehension within the administrative structure of the apex bank.

Inside sources disclosed that the affected directors were reportedly redeployed initially to an arm of the bank, FSS 2020 under the directive of the CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso. Though the directors were meant to resume work at the office which is located in the Maitama District of Abuja on 24th November 2023, an order allegedly from above kept them in a sort of pool to await “further directives”.

The source further added that the saga may have started in November last year when the apex bank decided to streamline administrative and operational procedures and the process allegedly left the eight directors in limbo.

However, the latest information filtering suggests that the apex bank had served the affected directors disengagement letters since Friday, 15th March 2024,

While the terms under which those reportedly disengaged could not be ascertained as at press time, it was gathered that all those fired reportedly had strong working ties with the embattled erstwhile CBN governor, Emefiele.

The decision has raised great concern amongst staff of the CBN, who fear that it could be a prelude to more layoffs by the current management.

It would be recalled that this latest report came after the CBN had reportedly relocated about 150 staff of the Banking Supervision Department (BSD), which is one of the 29 departments of the bank, to Lagos.

The move had generated mixed reactions across the country, with many alleging that it was an attempt to dislodge staff who are northerners from the institution.

But the CBN dismissed those insinuations, insisting that it was part of a proper reorganization of the bank, to ensure that the regular onsite examination of the 24 banks in the country was diligently carried out since most of those national and regional banks are headquartered in Lagos.