The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Yemi Cardoso, is taking steps to return parts of the apex bank’s headquarters to Lagos.
A source confirmed the development to Vanguard in Abuja, yesterday.
According to the source, the CBN Governor cited the large staff strength at the head office in Abuja as justification.
The source told Vanguard that an internal memo, which was leaked, showed that the Bank Supervision Department was mainly affected by the new policy.
The memo read in part: “This is to notify all staff members at the CBN Head Office that we have initiated a decongestion action plan designed to optimise the operational environment of the bank.
“This initiative aims to ensure compliance with building safety standards and enhance the efficient utilisation of our office.”
As learnt, the move is viewed by staff with consternation. It has been described as a demonstration of hidden agenda, as returning parts of the staff to Lagos cannot be.justified.
Their argument was that CBN has many facilities in Abuja.
For instance, they noted, the former head office building in Garki is largely underutilised. So if, indeed, the Central Business District headquarters was congested, the CBN Governor should have sent some departments to the “Old CBN”, as it is called.
In addition, CBN has buildings in the Maitama District that are also equally underutilised, which could be put to better use, the staff argued.
The source said members of staff, who were angry about the transfer, argued that banking supervision responsibility of the CBN was not only carried out in Lagos, as the new CBN boss wanted them to believe.
Meanwhile, Banking Supervision, Other Financial Institutions, Consumer Protection, Payment System Management and Monetary Policy could also be affected.
It was learned that some staff of the apex bank were unhappy with Mr. Cardoso. They said je came with a mindset against them.
It was learned that the governor, upon assumption of office, immediately wanted to sack all the directors of CBN.
However, that move was halted when he was told that the directors were not political appointees. So they could not be sacked at will, as was the case of the Acting Governor and all his deputies.
Sources said that since the new CBN Governor could not sack the directors, he decided to transfer virtually all of them from the headquarters.
Some were sent to the Financial Systems Stability Secretariat. And others to the CBN training institute in the Maitama District of Abuja.
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