Tension at CBN as Cardoso sacks eight directors who worked with Emefiele

Eight directors at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who worked closely with the former governor, Godwin Emefiele, have been served early retirement letters.

The move, TrackNews Media understands, was approved by the current CBN governor, Yemi Cardoso.

The directors, some of whom were initially redeployed to an arm of the bank, FSS 2020 under the Governor’s Directorate, whose office is located in the Maitama District of Abuja since 24th November 2023, and kept in a sort of pool to await “further directives”, are being asked to exit the CBN.

Sources say that some of the directors had already been served the disengagement letters since Friday, but could not state clearly under what terms were those affected disengaged.

“We don’t know whether they were given early retirement or their appointments were terminated outright”, a source told DailyTrust on the condition of anonymity.

Although sources could not confirm if those being served early retirement letters have been found guilty of any offences, they said main reason for the sack of the affected officials, according to most of our sources, was “because they had worked very closely with the immediate past governor of the bank, Mr. Godwin 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.

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Recall that the CBN had relocated no fewer than 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 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 those 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.

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It was widely alleged that many politicians had abused their privileges during the Buhari Administration to secure appointments for their children and relations in the CBN.

Meanwhile, some of the directors affected in the latest action of the current management of the CBN have threatened to challenge the decision, while others have said they will accept the sack as the CBN has become a ‘poisonous working environment.’